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THE 
ECLOGUES 

OF 

VIRGIL 

(In    English    In    Hexameter    Verse) 
TRANSLATED  BY 
I.  Perley  Smith,  Ph.  D.,  D.  D, 


W.   B.   CLARKE  COMPANY, 

Boston,   Mass. 
1909 


library  of  Congress 

Two  Copies  Received 

NOV   16  1908 

Copyrijtnt  Entry 


uopyrittm  tntry  _ 

class  at   **& 


XXfc  No, 


COPY     3. 


Copyright    1908  by 
I.    P.    SMITH. 


Press    of   MORRISON    BROS. 
Lawrence,    Mass. 


PREFACE. 

The  study  of  some  portion  of  Virgil's  poems  has  long 
been  considered  a  requisite  for  students  pursuing  an  extended 
course  of  education.  Martin  Luther  when  a  young  man  at 
the  University  made  a  thorough  study  of  Cicero,  Virgil  and 
other  classic  authors  in  preparation  for  his  life  work.  It  is 
not  strange  that  a  man  of  his  genius  should  find  delight  in 
the  expressive  beauty  of  Virgil's  thoughts  and  Virgil's  style. 
Many  boys  and  girls  in  the  early  part  of  their  classical  course 
have  been  deeply  impressed  with  the  vivid  representations 
and  the  elegance  of  these  lines;  and  have  had  feelings  similar 
to  those  of  a  boy  fourteen  years  of  age  who  was  reading  the 
story  of  the  overthrow  of  Troy,  and  who  said  to  his  teacher 
that  if  he  ever  became  a  rich  man,  he  would  like  to  give  the 
money  to  rebuild  that  ancient  city. 

I  have  long  thought  it  would  be  a  good  thing  to  have 
Virgil's  poems  translated  into  English  in  hexameter  verse  for 
the  benefit  of  those  persons  who  are  not  able  to  read  them  in 
the  language  in  which  Virgil  wrote  them. 

And  so  I  have  undertaken  the  task  of  thus  presenting  the 
Eclogues.  The  poet  Longfellow  made  in  hexameter  verse 
an  excellent  translation  of  the  first  Eclogue  which  is  pub- 
lished in  his  complete  works.  But  I  am  not  aware  that  the 
other  nine  have  ever  before  been  thus  translated. 

Hoping  that  the  reader  of  these  pages  may  find  pleasure 
in  them,  I  offer  them  to  the  public. 

I.  Perley  Smith. 
Lawrence,  Massachusetts, 

October  16,  1907. 


% 


9 

I 


To  his   wife  who  has  felt  deep  interest  in  this 
work  it  is  affectionately  dedicated  by  the  author. 


ECLOGUE  I. 


MELIBCEUS. 


Tityrus,  under  the  shade  of  a  wide-spreading  beech 

tree  reclining, 
Thou  with  slender  reed  meditatest  a  song  of  the 

woodlands ; 
We  the  bounds  of  our  country  and  our  sweet  fields 

relinquish : 
We  flee  our  country;  Tityrus,  thou,  at  ease  in  the 

shadow 

Teachest  the  woods  to  resound  the  name  of  the  fair       5 

Amaryllis. 

TITYRUS. 

Oh !    Meliboeus,   a  god  hath  for    us   this   leisure 

provided : 
For  indeed  he  will  be  a  god  to  me  always;    his 

altar 
Shall  a  tender  lamb  from  our  sheepfolds  often-times 

tincture. 
He  my  heifers  to  wander  about  as  thou  seest  and 

myself 
To  play  whatever  I  wished  on  a  rustic  reed  hath      10 

permitted. 

MELIBCEUS. 

Not  indeed  do  I  thee  envy;  rather  I  wonder: 
In  all  the  fields  there  is  everywhere  around  so  much 
disturbance. 


Iyo!  I  myself  although  sick  my  goats  forward  am 
driving; 

This  one,  Tityrus,  scarce  lead,  for  here  now  among 

the  thick  hazels, 
j^     Having  yeaned  twins,  the  hope  of  the  flock,  on  a 

bare  cliff,  ah!  she  left  them. 
I  remember  that  to  me,  had  my   mind  not  been 

unperceiving, 
The  oaks  touched  from  Heaven  had  often  predicted 

this  evil; 
Often  the   ill-boding   crow  from  the   hollow  ilex 

predicted. 
But    who    that     god,     nevertheless,    is,    Tityrus, 

tell    me. 

TITYRUS. 

20     I    supposed    the    city    which    they    call    Rome, 

Melibceus, 
Foolish  that    I   was,   like    this    one   whither  we 

shepherds 
Often  to  drive  down  the  tender  young  of  our  sheep 

are  accustomed: 
So  I  had  known  whelps  similar  to  dogs,  so  kids  to 

their  mothers, 
So  I  was  wont  to  compare  great  things  with  things 

that  are  little. 
25     Truly  this    place    hath   as   much    lifted  its   head 

among  other  cities 
As    the    cypresses    are    wont    among    the    pliant 

viburnums. 


MELIBCEUS. 

And  for  seeing  Rome  what  reason  hadst  thou  so 

Influential  ? 

TITYRUS. 

Liberty;  which  late,  yet  nevertheless  regarded  me 

slothful, 
After  my  beard  was  falling  whiter   when   I  was 

shaving; 
Nevertheless  it  regarded  me  and  came  after  a  long     3° 

time. 
Since  Amaryllis  hath  me  and  Galatea  hath  left  me, 
For,  and  I  will  confess  it,  while  Galatea  detained 

me, 
No  hope  had  I  of  liberty,   neither  care  for  my 

cattle: 
Although   many   a    victim    went   forth    from    my 

enclosures, 
And  rich   cheese  was    pressed    down  for   a    city     35 

ungrateful, 

Never  did  my  right  hand  return  home  heavy  with 

money. 

MELIBCEUS. 

I  used  to  wonder  why  sad  thou  invokedst  the  gods, 

Amaryllis, 
And  for  whom  on  the  tree  thou  didst  let  the  apples 

be  hanging: 
Tityrus  from  here  was  absent.    For  thee  the  very 

pine  trees, 
Tityrus    called,    the    very    fountains,    these  very     40 

groves  called. 


TITYRUS. 

What  could  I    do?    I  was    neither    escape    from 

bondage  permitted, 
Nor    to     know     elsewhere     concerning     gods    so 

propitious. 
Here  I  saw  that  young  man  in  worship  of  whom, 

Melibceus, 
Every  year  our    altars    for    twice    six    days   are 

smoking.  . 
45     Here  he  first    gave  to    me    a    response    when    I 

sought  it: 
'Feed  your  heifers  as  formerly,  boys,  and  yoke  up 

the  bullocks.' 

MELIBCEUS. 

Fortunate  old  man  !     Thy  lands  shall  then  in  thy 

possession  continue, 
And  large  enough  for  thee,  though  the  naked  rock 

and  the  marshland 
With  the  slimy  bulrush  should  overspread  all  the 

pastures. 
50     No  unaccustomed  fodder  shall  tempt  the  ewes  that 

are  gravid, 
Neither  evil  contagion  of  a  flock  neighboring  harm 

them. 
Fortunate  old  man  !    Here  in  the  midst  of  streams 

that  are  famous, 
Also  fountains   sacred,   thou  wilt  enjoy    the   cool 

shadow, 


On  this  side  as  ever  a  hedge  on  the  neighboring 

roadway, 
On  whose  willow  flower  are  Hyblsean  bees  feeding,      55 
Often    shall    to    sleep,    by     its    soft    whispering, 

win  thee.    , 
There  a  vine-dresser,  under  a  high  rock,  shall  sing 

to  the  breezes, 
Neither    yet    shall    thy   pets,    the     hoarse    wood 

pigeons,  meanwhile, 
Nor  the  aerial  turtle-dove  on  the   elm,  leave  off 

their  mourning. 

TITYRUS. 

Sooner  shall  the  fleet-footed  deer  on  the  sea  find     60 

their  pasture 
And  the  naked  fishes  on  the  shore  abandon  the 

waters, 
Sooner,  the  bounds  of  both  roamed  over,  shall  the 

Parthian  exile 
Drink  of  the  Arar,  or  shall  the  German  drink  of  the 

Tigris, 
Than   shall    his   appearance  glide  away  from  my 

bosom. 

MELIBCEUS. 

But  we  will  go  home,  some  of  us  to  the  thirsty     65 

Africs, 
Part  will  to  Scythia  come,  and  to  the  rapid  Cretan 

Oaxes, 


And   far  away  to    the    Britons   from    the    whole 
world  divided. 

Ah,  shall  I  ever,  long  hereafter,  the  bounds  of  my 
country, 

And  the  roof  of  my  poor  cottage  with  turf  covered 
over, 
7°     My    realm    after    several  harvests,  gaze  on  with 
wonder  ? 

Shall  an  impious  soldier  possess  these  fallows  so 
well  tilled? 

A  barbarian  these  grain  fields  ?   Ah,  to  what  has 
civil  discord 

Lowered  wretched    citizens  !    For  these  our  fields 
we  have  planted ! 

Graft  now  the  pear  trees,  put  in  order  the  vines, 
Meliboeus  ! 

75     Go  forth,  my  goats,  go  forth,  my  flock  that  was 
happy  aforetime. 

No  more   shall  I  hereafter,  stretched  in  a  green- 
bestrown  grotto, 

See  you  far  away  from  a  bush-covered  rocky  cliff 
hanging. 

No  song  shall  I  sing;    no  more,  while,  my  goats,  I 
feed  you, 

Shall  ye  browse  on  the  blossoming  clover  and  bitter 
willows. 

6 


TITYRUS. 

Nevertheless  thou  mightest  this  night  here  with  me     go 

rest  thee 
On  the  green  leaves:  we  have  mellow  apples  in  our 

possession, 
Chestnuts  that  are  tender,   and  pressed  milk    in 

abundance; 
And    now  the   tops   of   the   roofs    of   the   distant 

farmhouses  are  smoking, 
And  the   shadows   from   the   lofty  mountains  fall 

larger. 


ECLOGUE  II. 


Corydon,  the  Shepherd,  loved  with  ardor  the  fair 
Alexis, 

The  darling  of  his  master,  nor  did  he  have  what  he 
hoped  for, 

Only  among  the  thick  beeches,  with  their  shade- 
giving  branches, 

He  incessantly  came.  There  alone,  these  unpolished 
complainings, 
5     He    poured    forth    with     vain     fondness     to    the 
mountains  and  woodlands. 

Dost  thou  not  care  for  my  songs,  O  cruel  Alexis  ? 
Dost  thou  not  pity  me  ?    Finally  to  die  thou  wilt 

compel  me. 
Now  even  the  cattle  the  shade  and  the  cool  places 

are  seeking; 
Now  the  thornbrakes   are  even  the  green  lizards 

concealing, 
10     And  for  the  reapers  exhausted  by  the  heat  that  is 

oppressive, 
Thestylis   pounds   herbs   sweet   scented,  the   wild 

thyme  and  the  garlic. 
But  while  I  trace  thy  footsteps  under  a  sun  that  is 

scorching, 
The  trees  resound  to  the  hoarse  crickets  in  company 

with  me. 


Would  it  not  be  better  to  bear  the  dreadful  wrath  of 

Amaryllis, 
And  even  her  proud  disdain,  would  it  not  to  suffer     15 

Menalcas, 
Swarthy  though  he  was,  although  thou  wast  fair 

coinplexioned  ? 
Trust,   O   beautiful  boy,   not  too   much   to    thine 

appearance ! 
White  privets  fall  neglected,  dusky   jacinths   are 

gathered. 

I  am  despised  by  thee,  nor  dost  thou  ask  who  I  am, 

Alexis, 
How  rich  in  herds,  in  the  snowy  white  milk,  how     20 

abundant. 
A  thousand  of  my   lambs   wander  in  the   Sicilian 

mountains  : 
New  milk  is  not  wanting  to   me  in  summer  nor 

winter ; 
I   sing  the   same   songs  which  Dircaean  Amphion 

used  to, 
When,  his   herds   on  Attic   Aracinthus,  he  called 

together. 

i~ 
Nor  am  I  so  very  hideous  :    on  shore  I  saw  myself     25 

lately, 
When  the  sea  lay  unruffled  by  the  wind  ;    I  will  not 

fear  Daphnis 
With  thee  to  decide  since  my  image  never  deceives 

me. 


Oh  that  it  only  might  please  thee  along  with  me  to 
inhabit 

The   humble   country  and   lowly   cottage,  and   the 
deer  to  prostrate, 
30     And  to  drive  a  flock  of  kids  to  the  green  marsh- 
mallow  ! 

In  the  woods  along  with  me  thou  shalt  Pan  rival 
in  singing. 

Pan  first  taught  joining  several  reed-pipes  with  wax 
together ; 

Pan  to  the  sheep  and  the  keepers  of  the  sheep  gives 
attention. 

Neither  let    having  rubbed  thy   lip    with   a  reed 

displease  thee. 
35      What  did   not  Amyntas   do,  that  he   might  know 

these  same  things  ? 
I  have  a  pipe  of  seven  unequal  reeds  fitted  closely 
Together,  which   as   a   gift  Damoetas  once  to  me 

presented, 
And  when  dying   said,    'This   now  hath  thee   for 

a  second  possessor.' 
So  said  Damoetas  :  of  him  the  foolish  Amyntas  was 

jealous. 

40     Moreover,   in   a  valley  not    safe  were    two    little 

roebucks 
Found  by  me,   whose   skins   are   even   now   with 

white  speckled  over, 
Each  daily  drains  a  sheep's  two  udders  ,*   these  for 

thee  I  am  keeping  : 

10 


Thestylis  hath  begged  for  a  long  time  to  have  them 

from  me  ; 
And  she  will  do  so^  seeing  that  to  thee  my  gifts 

are  worthless. 

Hither  come,  O  beautiful  boy  :  lo,  the  nymphs  are     45 

bringing 
To  thee  lilies  in  full  baskets  ;    for  thee  the  white 

Nais, 
Plucking  the  pale  violets   and  the   heads  of    the 

poppies, 
Joins  the  daffodil  and  flower  of  the  sweet-smelling 

anise  ; 
Then   interweaving   them   with    cassia  and    other 

herbs  that  are  fragrant, 
With    the    yellowish     marigold,    she    paints    the     50 

delicate  jacinths. 

I  myself  will  gather  white  quinces  with  down  that 

is  tender, 
And  chestnuts,   which  used  to    be  loved   by   my 

Amaryllis ; 
Waxen  plums   I   will  add ;    also  this    fruit   shall 

have  honor; 
And  you  will  I  pluck,  O  laurels,  and  myrtle  thee 

next, 
Seeing  that,  being  thus  arranged,  ye  will  mingle     55 

sweet  odors. 

Thou  art  rustic,  Corydon,   nor  for  thy  gifts  cares 
Alexis, 

11 


Nor  would  Iollas  yield  the  palm,  if  with  gifts  thou 

shouldst  hold  contest. 
Ah,  ah,  what  did  I  wish  for  my  wretched  self  !  I  on 

my  flowers 
Have,  ruined,  let  loose  the  south  wind,  and  wild 

boars  on  my  pure  fountains. 

60     Ah,  foolish  boy,  whom   dost  thou  flee  ?   The  gods 

too,  inhabit  the  woodlands, 
And   Dardanian  Paris.     Let  Pallas   herself   dwell 

in  the  castles 
Which  she  hath  built :  let  the  woodlands  please  us 

before  all  things. 
The  grim  lioness  the  wolf  pursues ;   the  wolf  the 

goat  likewise ; 
The  sportive  goat  goes  in  pursuit  of  the  blossoming 

clover ; 
65     Corydon,  thee,  O  Alexis ;  his  own  pleasure  draws 

each  one. 

Behold,  the  bullocks  bring  back  the  plows  from 

the  yoke  suspended, 
And  the   sun  declining  doubles   the    lengthening 

shadows. 
Nevertheless  love  burns  me ;  for  to  love,  what  can 

be  the  limit  ? 
Corydon,  Corydon,  ah,  what  kind  of  a  frenzy  hath 

seized  thee  ? 
7°     Only  half  pruned  is  thy  vine  on  the  leafy  elm  tree. 

12 


Why   dost  thou  not  rather  endeavor  to  weave  at 

least  something, 
Of  what  need  requires,  from  the  osiers  and  pliant 

bulrush  ? 
Thou  wilt  find  another  Alexis  if  this  one  disdains 

thee. 


13 


ECLOGUE  III. 


MENALCAS. 


Tell  me,  Damcetas,  whose  is  that  flock,  is  it  that  of 
Melibceus  ? 

DAMCETAS. 

No,  but  Agon's  ;  lately  iEgon  delivered  it  to  me. 

MENALCAS. 

O  sheep,  always  a  hapless  flock,  while  he  himself 

fondles 
Neara,  and  fears  lest  she  should  prefer  me  above 

him, 
This  unfaithful  shepherd  milks  the  sheep  twice  in 

an  hour ; 
And  the  food  from  the  herd,  and  the  milk  from  the 

lambs  is  stolen. 

DAMCETAS. 

Bear  in  mind  that  these  things  should  be  flung  at 
men  not  so  freely. 

We  know  both  who  corrupted  thee,  and  in  what 
sacred  grotto, 

While  askance  looked  the  goats — but  the  good- 
natured  nymphs  smiled. 

14 


MENALCAS. 

Then,   I   imagine,   when   they  say/  me  hack  with      10 

malicious 
Pruning-knif e  the  grove  of  Mycon  and  the  vines 

that  were  tender. 

DAMCETAS. 

Or  when  thou  didst  break  the  bow  and  the  arrows 

of  Daphnis 
Here  nearby   the   old  beech  trees :    which   when, 

spiteful  Menalcas, 
Thou  to  the  boy  sawest  presented,  thou  wast  both 

sorry, 
And  thou  wouldst  have  died,  if  to  him  thou  hadst     z$ 

not  in  some  way  done  mischief. 

MENALCAS, 

What  can  the  masters  do,  when  the  thieves  are  so 

audacious  ? 
Did  I  not  see  thee  catch  the  goat  of  Damon,  most 

wretched  fellow, 
With   thy   crafty  tricks,   while  with  fury  Lycisca 

was  barking  ? 
And  when  I  cried  out :  'Whither  now  away  doth  he 

hurry  ? 
Tityrus  gather  the  flock;'    thou  behind  the  sedges     20 

wast  hiding. 

DAMCETAS. 

Ought  he  not  to  render  to  me,  when  vanquished  in 
singing, 

15 


The  goat  which  my  pipe  had  deservedly  won  by  its 

music  ? 
If  thou  dost  not  know  it,  that  goat  was  my  own  ; 

and  to  me  Damon 
Even    confessed  it,  but    said    that    he   could   not 

restore  it. 

MENALCAS. 

25     Didst  thou  surpass  him  in  singing,  or  was  there  in 

thy  possession 
Ever  a  pipe  joined  with  wax  ?  Wast  thou  not  wont, 

untaught  one, 
With  squeaking  pipe  to  murder  a  wretched  tune  at 

the  three  ways  ? 

DAMCETAS. 

Art  thou  willing  then  that  we  should  by  turns  try 

with  one  another 
What  we  each  can  do  ?    I  wager  this  heifer — lest 

thou  shouldst  reject  her 
30     By  chance,  she  comes  twice  daily  to  the  milk  pail, 

and  with  her  udder 
Feeds  two  calves — say,  with  what  stake  thou  wilt 

with  me  make  a  contest. 

MENALCAS. 

Anything  from  the  herd  I  would  not  dare  wager 
against  thee. 

For  I  have  a  father  at  home,  I  have  a  jealous  step- 
mother ; 

16 


They  both  number  the  sheep,  and  one  of  them  the 

kids  twice  daily. 
But  what  thou  thyself  wilt   safely  confess  is  far     35 

greater, 
Since  it  is  pleasing  to  thee  to  play  the  fool,  I  will 

wager 
My  beechen  goblets,  the  divine  Alcimedon's  carved 

work  : 
Round  which  a  twining  vine  superadded  by  the 

skilful  chisel, 
Clothes    the    clusters     scattered    about    with   the 

pale    ivy : 
In  the  midst  two  figures,  Conon — and  who  was  the     40 

other  ? 
Who  with  his  wand  distributed  the  whole  world  to 

the  nations, 
What  seasons  the  reaper,  what  the  bent  ploughman 

ought  to  attend  to  ? 
Nor  yet  have  I  moved  my  lips  to  them,  but  keep 

them  laid  up. 

DAMCETAS. 

For  me  too  the  same  Alcimedon  two  goblets  hath 

manufactured, 
And  he  hath  twined  the  handles  around  with  the     45 

soft  acanthus, 

He  hath  also  placed  Orpheus  in  the  midst,  and  the 
bowing  forests. 

17 


Nor  yet  have  I  moved  my  lips  to  them,  but  keep 

them  laid  up : 
If  thou  regardest  the  heifer,   there  is  naught  to 

praise  in  the  goblets. 

MENALCAS. 

Not  at  all  shalt  thou  escape  today  ;  I  will  come  to 
what  thou  callest. 
50     Only  let  him  hear  these  things — even  who  comes, 
lo,  Palaemon ! 
I  will  cause  that  henceforth  thou  shalt  challenge 
no  one  with  thy  singing. 
DAMCETAS. 

Come  then  if  thou  hast  aught,  in  me  there  shall  be 

no  delaying. 
Nor  do  I  shun  anyone  :  only,  neighbor  Palaemon, 
Give  these  things  closest  attention,  it  is  not  a  small 

matter. 

PAL^MON. 

55     Sing,  inasmuch  as  ourselves  on  the  soft  grass  we 

have  seated : 
And    now    every    field,    now    every    tree    is    full 

blooming, 
Now  the  forests  are  green,  now  the  year  abounds 

most  in  beauty. 
Begin  Damcetas ;    Menalcas,    thereupon    do    thou 

follow. 
Sing  in  alternate  verses  ;     Muses  love  alternate 

verses. 

18 


DAMCETAS. 

Let  us  begin  from  Jove,  ye  Muses  ;   all  things  are     60 

filled  with  Jove  fully. 
He  fosters  the  earth,  to  him  my  songs  are  an  object 

of  favor. 

MENALCAS. 

Phoebus,  too,  loves  me   for  Phcebus  are  with  me 

his  always 
Suitable  gifts,  the  laurels  and  the  sweet  blushing 

jacinth. 

DAMCETAS. 

Galatea,  frolicsome  girl,  aims  at  me  with  an  apple, 
And  flies  to  the  willows,   and  to    be    seen    first     65 
is  eager. 

MENALCAS. 

But  my  flame,  Amyntas,  himself  to  me  willingly 

offers, 
So  that  Delia  is  not  to  our  dogs  now  known  better. 

DAMCETAS. 

Presents  have  been  obtained  for  my  love;    for  I 

have  noted 
The    place  myself,   where  the  airy  wood-pigeons 

have  gathered. 

MENALCAS. 

What  I  could,  I  sent  to  the  boy,  ten  golden  apples     70 
Gathered  from  a  forest  tree  ;  tomorrow  I  will  send 
others. 

19 


DAMCETAS. 
Oh,  how  often  and  what  things  hath  Galatea  said 

to  me, 
Back  to  the  ears  of  the  gods,  some  part  ye  winds, 
carry. 

MENALCAS. 
What  avails  it  that  thou  thyself  dost  not  spurn  me, 
Amyntas, 
75      If  while  thou  chasest  wild  boars,  for  the  nets  I  am 
caring  ? 

DAMCETAS. 

Unto  me  send  Phillis  :  it  is  my  birthday,  Iollas  ; 
Come  thyself,  when  for  the  fruits,  I  offer  a  heifer. 

MENALCAS. 

I  love  Phillis  before  others  ;  for  she  wept  when  I 

departed, 
And    said,     'Farewell,     a     long     farewell,     thou 

handsome  Iollas.' 

DAMCETAS. 

80     To  the  folds  the  wolf  is  harmful,  to  ripe  fruit  the 
showers, 
To  the  trees  the  winds,   and  to  me  the  anger  of 
Amaryllis. 

MENALCAS, 

To  the  growing  crops  moisture  is  sweet,  to  weaned 

kids  the  arbutus, 
The  soft  willow  to  the  teeming  herd,  to  me  only 

Amyntas. 

20 


DAMCETAS. 

Pollio  is  fond  of  my  Muse,  although  she  is  rustic, 

Ye  Pierian  sisters,  feed  for  your  reader  a  heifer.  85 

MENALCAS. 

Pollio  even  himself  makes  new  songs  :    feed  ye  the 

bullock, 
Which  now  attacks  with  his  horn,  and  the   sand 

with  his  feet  scatters. 

DAMCETAS. 

Let  him  come,  who  loves  thee,  Pollio,  where  he 

rejoices  that  thou  hast : 
For  him  let  honey  flow,  and  let  the  rough  bramble 

bring  forth  amomum. 

MENALCAS. 

Let  him,  who  hates  not  Bavius,  thy  songs,  Maevius,     90 

cherish, 
And  let  the  same  yoke  up  foxes,  and  let  him  milk 

he-goats. 

DAMCETAS. 

O  boys,  who  gather  flowers  and  the  strawberries 

growing 
On  the  ground,  flee  hence,  a  cold  snake,  in  the 

grass  lies  hidden. 

21 


MENALCAS. 

Forbear,  ye  sheep,  from  proceeding  too  far ;  it  is 
not  safe  trusting 
95     To  the  bank ;   even  the  ram  himself  his  fleece  is 
now  drying. 

DAMCETAS. 

Tityrus,   drive  thy  grazing   goats  away  from  the 

river : 
When  it  is  time,  I  myself  will  wash  them  all  in  the 

fountain. 

MENALCAS. 

Drive  together  the  sheep,  boys  ;   if  the  heat  should 

the  milk  dry  up, 
As  of  late,  in  vain  shall  we  with  our  palms  press 

the  udders. 

DAMCETAS. 

ioo     How  lean,  alas,  alas,  in  the  fattening  vetch  is  my 
bullock ! 
The  same  love  is  destruction  to  herd  and  to  the 
herdsman. 

MENALCAS. 

Surely  love  is  not  the  cause  with  these  ;   scarce  to 

their  bones  are  they  clinging. 
I  do  not  know  what  eye  bewitches  my  lambs  that 

are  tender. 

22 


DAMGETAS. 

Say,  in  what  lands— and  thou  wilt  be  my  great 

Apollo — 
The  space  of  the  sky  not  more  than  three  ells  lies     105 

open. 

MENALCAS. 

Say,  in  what  lands,  with  the  names  of  kings  grow 

the  flowers 
Inscribed,  and  thou  only  shalt  have  possession  of 

Phillis. 

PALJEMON. 

It  is  not  mine  to  settle  so  great  contests  between 

you. 
Both  thou  and  he  the  heifer  deserve,  and  whoever 

shall  either 
Fear  sweet  love,  or  whoever  shall  experience  bitter.      II0 
Close  up  your   streams   now,  boys;   the  meadows 

have  drunk  a  plenty. 


23 


ECLOGUE  IV. 


Let    us    sing  of  things   a  little  greater,   Sicilian 

Muses. 
The  trees  and  the  humble  tamarisks  do  not  delight 

all; 
If  we   sing  of  woodlands,   let    them    be    worthy 

a  consul. 
The   last  age    of    Cumaean    prophecy    has    come 

already ; 
5     Over  again  the  great  series  of  the  ages  commences  : 
Now  too  returns  the  Virgin,  return  the  Saturnian 

kingdoms ; 
Now  at  length  a  new  progeny  is  sent  down  from 

high  heaven. 
Only,  chaste  Lucina,  to  the  boy  at  his  birth   be 

propitious, 
In  whose  time  first  the  age  of  iron  shall  discontinue, 
io     And  in  the  whole  world  a  golden  age  rise;   now 

rules  thy  Apollo. 

Just  while  thou  too,  Pollio,  just  while  thou  art  a 

consul 
Shall  this  glorious  age  come,   and  great  months 

commence  to  roll  onward. 
Under  thy  guidance,   if   any  traces   of  our  guilt 

continue, 

24 


Rendered  harmless,  they  shall  set  the  earth   free 

from  fear  forever. 
He  shall  partake  of  the  life  of  the  gods,  and  he      I5 

shall  see 
Heroes  mingled  with  gods,  and  he  too  shall  be  seen 

by  them. 
And  he  shall  rule  a  peaceful  world  with  his  father's 

virtues. 

But  the  earth,  O  boy,  shall  pour  forth  her  little 

gifts  to  thee, 
Even  where  without  culture  the  creeping  ivies  with 

baccar 
And    colocasia    are     mingled     with     the    smiling     20 

acanthus. 
The  goats  of  themselves  shall  homeward  bring  back 

their  udders 
With  the  milk  distended,  nor  shall  they  fear  the 

great  lions  ; 
Even  the  cradle  shall  pour  forth  to  thee  charming 

flowers, 
And  the  serpent  shall  die,   and    the    false    herb 

of  poison 
Shall  die ;  the  Assyrian  amomum  shall  spring  up  25 

Everywhere.  But  as  soon  as  thou  shalt  now  be  able 
To  read  the  praises  of  heroes  and  the  deeds  of  thy 

parent, 
And  to  know  what  virtue  is  ;  the  field  shall  slowly 

grow  yellow 

2§ 


With  the  soft  grain,  and  the  blushing  grape  from 

the  wild  bramble 
30      Shall  hang,  and  the  hard  oaks  shall  distil  dewy 

honey. 
Yet  a    few  lurking   traces    of  ancient  vice    shall 

continue, 
Which  shall  bid  men  with  ships  tempt  the  sea,  and 

encircle 
Cities  with  walls,  and  which  shall  bid  them  cleave 

in  the  earth  furrows  : 
There  will  then  be  another  Tiphys,  and  another 

Argo 
35      Which  will  bear  chosen  heroes  ;  there  will  be  other 

wars  likewise, 
And  again  also  to  Troy  will  be  sent  great  Achilles. 

Afterwards  when  at  length  mature  age  a  man  shall 

have  made  thee, 
Even  the  merchant  himself  shall  retire  from  the 

sea,  nor  shall  naval 
Pine  make  exchange  of  prices  :    every  land  shall 

bear  all  things  : 
4°     The  ground  shall  not  suffer  the  harrows,  nor  the 

vine  the  knife  for  pruning  ; 
The  sturdy  ploughman  shall  also  now  loosen  the 

yokes  from  the  bullocks  ; 
Nor    shall  the  wool  learn  to  counterfeit  various 

colors : 
But  the  ram  himself  in  the  meadows  shall  change 

his  fleece  over, 

26 


Now  with  sweetly  blushing  purple,  now  with  saffron 

yellow  ; 
Scarlet  shall  of  itself  clothe  the  lambs  while  they     45 

are  feeding. 

Hasten  on  such  ages,  the  Destinies   sang  to  their 

spindles, 
Being    in    the    unchanging    decree    of    the    fates 

concordant. 

Oh   approach,   great   honors,   the    time   will    soon 

be  present, 
Thou  dear  offspring  of  the  gods,  great  progeny  of 

Jove. 
Behold    the    world    with    its    convex    ponderosity     50 

nodding, 
And  the  earth,  and  the  regions  of  the  sea,  and  the 

depths  of  heaven ! 
Behold  how  all  things  rejoice  at  the  coming  of  this 

age  ! 
Oh  that  the   last  part  of  my   life    may   so    long 

continue, 
And  so  much  of  my  breath,  as  to  sing  thy  deeds 

shall  be  sufficient ! 
Neither  shall  Thracian  Orpheus,  nor  Linus,  surpass     55 

me  in  singing, 
Though  his  mother  give  aid  to  the   one,  and  his 

father  the  other, 
Calliopea  to  Orpheus,  handsome  Apollo  to  Linus. 
If   even   Pan   should   contend    with    me,    Arcadia 

judging, 

27 


Pan    even   would    say    that  he    was    vanquished' 
Arcadia  judging. 

60     Begin,   little    boy,    with    a    smile    to    distinguish 

thy  mother : 
To  thy  mother  ten  months  brought  the  qualms  long 

continued. 
Begin,   little  boy,   on   whom  have   not  smiled  his 

parents, 
Nor  a  god  with  his  table,  nor  goddess  with  her  bed, 

hath  honored. 


28 


ECLOGUE  V. 


MENALCAS. 

Now  that,  Mopsus,   we  have  met  here    together, 

both  skilful, 
Thou  in  swelling  slender  reeds,  I  in  singing  verses, 
Why  have  we  not  sat  down  here  among  the  elms 

mingled  with  hazels  ? 
MOPSUS. 

Thou  art  the  elder ;   it  is  just  that  I  should  obey 

thee,  Menalcas, 
Whether  under  the  quivering  shadows,  stirred  by       5 

the  zephyrs, 
Or  if  we  repair  to  this  grotto:  behold  how  the  wild 

vine 
Of  the  woodlands  has  here  and  there  scattered  the 

grotto  with  clusters. 

MENALCAS. 
Only  Amyntas  in  our  mountains  should  with  thee 
hold  a  contest. 

MOPSUS. 

What  if  the  same  should  strive  to  surpass  Apollo 
in  singing  ? 

MENALCAS. 

Begin,  Mopsus,  first,  whether  thou  hast  either  some     10 
loves  of  Phillis, 

29 


Or   some  praises   of  Alcon,   or   some   quarrels   of 

Codrus  : 
Begin;     Tityrus   will   care   for   the   kids   that  are 

browsing. 

MOPSUS. 

Nay,  I  will  try  rather  these  songs  which  I  carved 

lately 
In  the  green  bark  of  a  beech  tree,  and  setting  to 
music,  I  noted 
15     Down    alternately ;      bid    then    to     the     contest 
Amyntas. 

MENALCAS. 

As  far  as  yields  the  pliant  willow  to  the  pale  olive, 
As  far  as  the  humble  lavender  to  the  crimson  rose 

beds, 
So  far  according  to  my   judgment  to  thee   yields 

Amyntas. 
But  forbear  to  say  more,  boy  ;  we  have  come  to  the 

grotto. 

MOPSUS. 

20     The  Nymphs,  when  Daphnis  was  cut  off  by  a  death 

that  was  cruel, 
For  him  lamented  ;   ye  hazels  and  streams  to  the 

Nymphs  bear  witness ; 
When  the  mother,  the   hapless   body  of   her   son 

embracing, 
Calls  out  to  the  gods,  and  also  to  the  stars,  'Ye  are 

cruel.' 

30 


Not  any    persons,  during  those  days,  drove  their 

fed  cattle 
To  the  cooling  streams,  Daphnis  ;    neither  of  river       25 

did  any 
Quadruped  taste  ;  nor  did  it  touch  a  single  blade  of 

grass. 
The  wild    mountains,   Daphnis,   and    the    forests 

declare  that 
Carthaginian  lions   even    have   mourned   over   thy 

death. 
Daphnis  also  introduced  yoking  Armenian  tigers 
To  a  chariot ;    Daphnis,  too,  the  leading  of  festive      30 

dances 
Of  Bacchus,  and  the  pliant  spears  with  soft   leaves 

interweaving. 

As  the  vine  is  the  glory  of  the  trees,  as  the  grapes 

of  the  vine, 
As  the  bulls  of  the  herds,  as  the  crops  of  the  rich 

fields, 
So  thou  art  of  thy  friends  all  the  glory  !     After  the 

fates  bore 
Thee    off,    Pales    herself    and    Apollo    the    fields      35 

deserted. 
Worthless  darnel  and  sterile  wild  oats  spring  up  in 

the  furrows, 
To  which  we  have  often  the  large  grains  of  barley 

committed. 
Instead  of  the  soft  violet,  instead  of   the   purple 

narcissus, 

3i 


The  thistle  springs  up  and  the  thorn-bush  with  the 
sharp  prickles. 

40     Strew  the  ground  with  leaves,  draw  the  shadows 

over  the  fountains, 
Shepherds.     Daphnis  orders  such  things  to  be  done 

for  him ; 
And  make   a  tomb,    and    to    the    tomb    superadd 

an  inscription  : 
*I  am  Daphnis  in  the  woodlands,  known  hence  even 

to  the  stars. 
Guard  of  a  beautiful  flock,  myself  more  beautiful 

even.' 

MENALCAS. 

45     Such  is  thy  song  to  me,   as  sleep   on   the   grass, 

divine  poet, 
Is  to  those  that  are  weary,  as  during  the  heat  of 

summer 
To  allay  thirst  from   a  purling   stream    of   fresh 

water. 
Nor  with  reeds  only,  but  with  thy  voice,  dost  thou 

equal  thy  master. 
Fortunate  boy,  thou  shalt  from  this  time  be  to  him 

the  second. 
50     Nevertheless   I  will  sing  by  turn  such   things  as 

these  to  thee, 
With  what  skill  I  may,  and  I  will  bear  up  to  the 

stars  thy  Daphnis. 
I  will  raise  Daphnis  up  to  the  stars :    Daphnis  too 

loved  me. 

32 


MOPSUS. 
Can  anything  be  more  welcome  to  me  than  such  a 

tribute  ? 
And  the  boy  too  is  worthy  of  being  in  song  made 

famous. 
Stimachon  also   long   ago    these    songs    of    thine     55 

praised  to  me. 

MENALCAS. 
On  the    strange    threshold    of    Olympus,   clothed 

in  white,  Daphnis 
Gazes   with  wonder ;    under  his  feet  he  sees   the 

clouds  and  the   stars. 
Therefore   eager  delight  holds   possession   of  the 

woods  and  other 
Parts  of  the  country,  of  Pan  too,  and  the  shepherds, 

and  Dryad  maidens. 
Neither  doth  the  wolf  meditate  any  plots  against     60 

the  flock, 
Nor    nets   furnish   a    snare     for    the    deer ;    good 

Daphnis  loves  rest, 
The  unshorn  mountains  themselves  with  joy  lift  up 

their  voices 
To  the  stars ;    the  very  rocks  now  lift  their  songs 

upward, 
'A  god,  Menalcas,  he  is  a  god,'  murmur  forth  the 

very  woodlands. 
Oh,  be  propitious  and  kind  to  thine  own  !  Lo,  four     55 

altars  ! 
Behold  two  for  thee,  Daphnis,  two  high  altars  for 

Phoebus. 

33 


Year  by  year  two  goblets  that  are  with  new  milk 

foaming, 
Also  two  bowls  of  rich  olive  oil  will  I  to  thee  offer. 
And    especially   with    much   wine    our  festivities 

cheering, 
70     Before  the  fireside,  if  winter,  in  the  shade  if  it  is 

harvest, 
From  the  cups  Ariusian  wine,  a  newly  found  nectar, 
I  will  pour  out.  To  me  Damoetas  and  Lyctian  iEgon 
Shall  sing ;  Alphesiboeus  shall  imitate  the  dancing 

Satyrs. 

These  rites  always  shall  be  thine,  both  when  we 
pay  solemn 
75     Vows  to  the  nymphs,  and  of  the  fields  we  make  the 
circuit. 
While  the  wild  boar  shall  be  fond  of  the  tops  of 

the  mountain, 
While  the  fish  of  rivers,  and  while  bees  shall  feed 

on  the  thyme,  while  crickets 
On  dew,  always  shall  thine  honor,  and  name,  and 

praises  continue  ; 
As  to  Bacchus  and  to  Ceres,  so  to  thee  yearly, 
80     Shall  the  farmers  make  vows  :  thou  also  with  vows 
shalt  bind  them. 

MOPSUS. 

What  gifts,  what  gifts,  for  such  a  song,  shall  I  to 

thee  render  ? 
For  neither  doth  the  murmuring  of  the  south  wind 

approaching 

34 


So  much  delight  me,  nor  so  much  the  shores  lashed 

by  the  billows, 
Nor  the  rivers  that  run  down  through  the  rocky 

valleys. 

MENALCAS. 

In   the   first  place,    with   this   fragile   pipe  I  will     85 

present  thee  : 
This   taught   me    'Corydon    loved   with   ardor   the 

handsome  Alexis.' 
This   same,    'Whose   herd    is   this,   is    it   that   of 

Melibceus  ? ' 

MOPSUS. 

But,  Menalcas,  do  thou  take  this  crook,  beautiful 

for  its 
Uniform  knobs  and  brass,  which  Antigonus — and 

he  was  worthy 
To  be  loved— did  not  carry  off,  though  of  me  often     90 

he  begged  it. 


35 


ECLOGUE  VI. 


My  Thalia  was  the  first  that  deigned  in  Syracusan 
Verse  to  sport,  nor  did  she  blush  to  inhabit  the 

woodlands. 
Cynthius,  pulled  my  ear  when  I  would  sing  of  kings 

and  of  battles, 
And   gave    the    admonition :      *  It   devolves    on   a 

shepherd, 
5      Tityrus,  to  feed  thrifty  sheep,  and  sing  a  fine  spun 

song.' 

Nor  will  I,  O  Varus — for  there  will  be  enough  who 

would 
Wish  thy  praises  to  sing  and  commemorate  wars 

that  were  dreadful — 
Meditate  a  rural  song  with  a  slender  reed  pipe. 
I  sing  things  not  unbidden  :  yet  if,  too,  any  one  taken 
10     By   love,  if  any  one  shall  read  these  things,  our 

tamarisks,  Varus, 
The  whole  grove,  shall  sing  of  thee  ;  nor  to  Phoebus 

is  any 
Page  more  dear  than  that  on  whose  front  is  written 

the  name  of  Varus. 
Go  on,  ye  Muses  !    The  boys   Chromis   and   also 

Mnasyllus 
Saw  Silenus  as  he  was  lying  asleep  in  a  grotto, 
15     His  veins  being  with  yesterday's  wine,  as  always, 

inflated. 

36 


At   a   distance   were   lying  his  garlands  only   just 

fallen, 
And  his  heavy  jug  by  its  well  worn  handle  was 

hanging. 
Laying  hold  of  him — for  the  old  man  had  often 

deceived  them 
Both  with  the  hope  of  a  song — with  his  very  gar- 
lands they  bind  him. 
^Egle   adds   herself  as   companion,  and  comes  on     20 

them  timid — 
iEgle,  fairest  of  the  Naiads — and  just  as  his  eyes 

he  is 
Opening,  with  blood  red  mulberries  she  paints  his 

forehead  and  temples. 
Smiling  at  the  ruse,  he  says,  "Why  do  you  bind  me 

with  fetters? 
Loose  me,  boys ;    it  is  enough   to   seem   to   have 

been  able : 
Listen  to  the  songs,  which  you  desire  ;    the  songs     25 

for  you ; 
For  her  there  will  be  another  reward''.     At  once  he 

commences. 
Then  truly  you  might  have  seen  the  fauns  and  the 

wild  beasts  dancing 
To  the  measure,  then  the  rigid  oaks  waving  their 

summits ; 
Nor  doth  the  Parnasian  rock  have  so  much  pleasure 

in  Phoebus, 
Nor  doth  Rhodope  so  much,  nor  Ismarus,  wonder     30 

at  Orpheus. 

37 


For  he  sang  how  the  seeds  of  the  worlds  through 

space  without  limit, 
And  also   of  the   air,  and   of  the   sea,  had  been 

collected ; 
And  at  the  same  time  of  pure  fire  ;    how  from  these 

beginnings 
All  the  elements  and  the  world's  tender  orb  became 

solid. 
35     Then  how  the  ground  began  to  harden  and  to  shut 

the  water 
Off  in  the  sea,and  slowly  take  on  the  forms  of  objects; 
And  now  how  at  the  light  of  the   new    sun,    the 

worlds  were  astonished, 
And  how  from  the  clouds  suspended  high,  down 

came  the  showers  ; 
When  the  woods  first  began  to  rise,  and  when  the 

animals,  scattered 
40     Here  and  there,  began  to  wander  about  in  strange 

mountains. 
He  next  tells  of  the  stones  that  Pyrrha  threw,  the 

Saturnian  kingdoms, 
And   also  the  Caucasian  birds,  and  the   theft   of 

Prometheus. 
To  these  he  adds  the  fountain  where  the  sailors 

shouted  for  Hylas 
Left  behind,  how  with  Hylas,  Hylas,  the   whole 

shore  resounded. 
45         And  in  her  mad  love  of  a  snow-white  bullock  he 

gives  consolation 
To  Pasiphae,  fortunate  if  herds  had  never  existed. 

38 


Ah,  unhappy  young  woman,  what  infatuation  pos- 
sessed thee  ! 
The  daughters  of  Prceteus  filled  the  fields  with  low- 

ings  unreal : 
But  yet  nevertheless  not  any  one  of  them  pursued 

such 
Vile  embraces  of  beasts,  however  much  she  feared     50 

the  plough  from 
Her  neck,  and  had  often   felt   for  horns   on   her 

smooth  forehead. 
Ah,  unhappy  young  woman,  thou  art  now  roaming 

the  mountains  : 
He,  supporting  his  snow-white  side  upon  the  soft 

jacinth, 
Under  a  gloomy  ilex  ruminates  colorless  herbage, 
Or  in  a  nnmerous  herd  he  follows  some  female.     55 

Close,  ye  Nymphs, 
Ye  Dictaean  Nymphs,  close  now  the  open  parts  of 

forests, 
If  by  any  chance   my  bullock's   wandering   foot- 
prints 
May  present  themselves  before  my  eyes  ;    mayhap 

some  heifers 
May  entice  him  off  away  to  the  Gortynian  stables, 
Either  by  green  pasture  induced  or  following  the 

herd. 
Then  of  the  girl  who  was  charmed  with  the  apples     g0 

of  Hesperus'  daughters 
He  sings  ;    then  with  the  moss  of  bitter  bark,  he 

encircles 

39 


The  sisters  of  Phaethon,  and  from  the  ground  raises 

tall  alders. 
Then  he  sings  how  one  of  the  sisters  led  Gallus, 

when  roaming 
65     By  the  streams  of  Permessus,  to  the  Aonian  moun- 
tains ; 
And  how  all  the  choir  of  Phoebus  rose  up  to  do  him 

honor ; 
And  how  Iyinus,  the  shepherd  of  divine  song,  and 

also, 
Having  his  locks  adorned  with  flowers  and  bitter 

parsley, 
Said  :    ''The  Muses  give  these  reeds  to  thee,  pray 

accept  them, 
70     Which  they  gave  to  the  Ascraean  old  man,  with 

which  he  was 
Formerly  wont  to  bend  down  the  rigid  ash  trees  in 

the  mountains. 
To  thee  on  these  let  the  origin  of  the  Grynaean  forest 
Be  sung,  that  there  may  be  no  grove  in  which  more 

Apollo  may  glory." 
Why  should  I  speak  either  of  Scylla  the  daughter 

of  Nisus, 
75     Whom  fame  reports,  girt  about  her  white  groin  with 

barking  monsters, 
To   have  vexed  the  Dulichian   ships,   and   in  the 

abyss  deep 
Ah,  with  marine  sea-dogs,  to  have  torn  the  timid 

sailors  in  pieces  ; 
Or  how  he  told  the  transformation  of  Tereus'  body  ; 

40 


What  banquets,  what  presents,  Philomela  for  him 

made  ready ; 
With  what  speed  he  sought  the  deserts,  and,  too,      80 

with  what  wings, 
111  fated,  over  the  palace,  at  one  time  his  own,  he 

flitted? 
All  these   he   sings,   which  the   happy  Eurotas 

heard,  and  then 
Bade  its  laurels  learn  by  heart  while  Phoebus  was 

singing : 
To  the  stars  they  are  carried  by  the  echoing  valleys  ; 
Till   Vesper  warned  them  to  gather  the  sheep  in     85 

their  enclosures, 
And  count  the  number,  and  came  forth  from  reluc- 
tant Olympus. 


4i 


ECLOGUE  VII. 


MELIBCEUS. 

Daphnis  by  chance  had  sat  down  under  a  whisper- 
ing ilex, 
Corydon,  too,  and  Thirsis  had  driven  their  flocks 

together, 
Thirsis  the  sheep,  Corydon  the   goats   with   milk 

distended, 
Both  in  the  flower  of  their  age,  both  Arcadians  also, 
5     Equally   matched   in  singing,   and   also   ready    to 

answer. 
To  me,  while  from  the  cold  I  was  the  tender  myrtles 

protecting, 
Hither  the  he-goat  himself,  the  leader  of  the  flock 

had  wandered ; 
And  I  espy  Daphnis.     When  he  sees  me  in  turn, 

* 'Hither  come  quickly/ ' 
He  says,  "O  Meliboeus,  the  he-goat  is  safe  and  the 

kids  ; 
io     And  if  thou  canst  awhile  linger,  rest  thee  under  the 

shadow. 
Hither  to  drink  the  bullocks  themselves  shall  come 

through  the  meadow, 
Here  the  Mincius  has  fringed  the  green  banks  with 

the  tender 
Reed,  and  the  young  swarms  of  bees  resound  from 

the  sacred  oak  tree". 

42 


What  could  I  do  ?  I  had  neither  Alcippe,  nor  Phillis, 

To  shut  up  the  lambs  at  home,  that  from  the  milk     *5 
had  been  taken, 

And  there  was  a  great  contest,  Corydon  vying  with 
Thirsis. 

I,  however,put  off  for  their  play  my  serious  business: 

Therefore  both  began  to  contend  in  alternate  verses; 

The  Muses  wished  that  they  should  remember  al- 
ternate verses. 

Corydon  these,  those  Thirsis,  in  due  order  recited.     20 

CORYDON. 

Ye  Libethrian  Nymphs,  my  delight,  grant  to  me 

either 
Such   a   song   as  ye  gave  to  my  Codrus  ;    poems 

makes  he  next 
To  the  verses  of  Phoebus  ;  or  if  we  all  cannot  do  this , 
Here  on  this  sacred  pine  shall  hang  my  whispering 

reed  pipe. 

THIRSIS. 

Ye  Arcadian   shepherds,   deck    your    rising    poet      25 
with  ivy, 

That  the  sides  of  Codrus  may  burst  asunder  with 

envy. 
Or  if  he  shall  praise  me  beyond  what  is  pleasing, 

bind  then  his  forehead 
With  baccar,  lest  an  evil  tongue  should  harm  the 

future  poet. 

43 


CORYDON. 
Delia,  little  Micon  this  head  of  a  bristly  wild  boar, 
30     And  the  branching  horns  of  a  long  lived  deer  to 
thee  offers. 
If  this  shall  be  lasting,  thou  shalt  stand  at  thy  full 

length 
In  polished  marble   having  thy  legs  bound  with 
purple  buskin. 

TH1RSIS. 
It  is  enough  for  thee  to  expect  a  bowl  of  milk,  O 

Priapus, 
And  these  cakes  yearly.     Thou  art  the  keeper  of  a 
poor  garden. 
35     Now  according  to  the  times,  we  have  made  thee  of 
marble  ; 
But  if  the  increase  of  the  flock  permit,  be  thou 
golden. 

CORYDON. 
Galatea,  daughter  of  Nereus,  sweeter  to  me  than 
The  thyme  of  Hybla,  whiter  than  swans,  more  fair 

than  white  ivy ; 
As  soon  as  the  well  fed  bullocks   shall  return  to 
their  stables, 
40     Come,  if  for  thy  Corydon,  any  care  shall  possess 

thee. 

THIRSIS. 

May  I  seem  to  thee  more  bitter  than  Sardinian 

herbage, 
Rougher  than  the  butcher's  broom,  more  worthless 

than  sea-weed, 

44 


If  this  day  is  not  now  longer  to  me  than  a  whole 

year. 
Go  home  if  ye  have  any  shame,  go  home,  my  well 

fed  bullocks. 

CORYDON. 

Ye  mossy  fountains,  and  grass  that  is  softer  than     45 

sleep  is, 
And  the  arbute  tree  which  covers  you  with  its  green 

shadow, 
Guard  the  herd  from  the  mid-summer  heat ;    now 

the  scorching 
Summer  is  coming,  now  the  buds  on  the  clinging 

vine-branch  are  swelling. 
THIRSIS. 
Here  is  a  hearth  and  resinous  torches,  here  is  at  all 

times, 
Very   much  fire,  and  door  posts   blackened   with     50 

smoke  long  continued  : 
Here  we  care  as  much  for  the  cold  of  the  north 

wind  as  the  wolf  doth 

For  the  number,  or  the  torrent  for  the  banks  of  the 

river. 

CORYDON. 

Here  stand  both  the  junipers  and  also  the  prickly 

chestnuts : 
All  around  under  every  tree  its  own  apples   lie 

scattered ; 
All  things  are  now  smiling :  but  if  handsome  Alexis     55 
Should  go   from  these  mountains,  you  would   see 

even  the  rivers  dry  up. 

45 


THIRSIS. 

The  field  is  parched ;    dying  by  fault  of  the  air,  the 
herbage  is  thirsty  ; 

X,iber  has  denied  our  hills  the  shade  of  the  vine- 
leaves  : 

Every  grove  will  be  green  at  the  approach  of  our 

Phillis, 

50     And  with  joyous  showers,  Jove  will  come  down  in 

abundance. 

CORYDON, 

The  poplar  is  to  Alcides,  the  vine  to  Bacchus,  most 

pleasing, 
Myrtles   to   beautiful  Venus,    his    own    laurel    to 

Phoebus ; 
Phillis  loves  the  hazels  :    so  long  as  she  shall  love 

them, 
Neither  myrtle  nor  laurel  of  Phoebus  shall  conquer 

the  hazels. 

THIRSIS. 

6$     The  ash  is  fairest  in  the  woods,  the  pine  in  the 
gardens, 
The  poplar  by   the  rivers,   the    fir    in    the    lofty 

mountains  ; 
But  if,   my  charming  Lycidas,  thou  dost  visit  me 

oftener, 
The  ash  in  the  forests  shall  yield  to  thee,  the  pine 
in  the  gardens. 

MELIBCEUS, 
These  verses,  I  recall ;    and  that  in  vain  with  Cory- 
don,  Thirsis, 
70      Conquered,  contended.     From  that  time,  Corydon, 
Cory  don  is  mine. 

46 


ECLOGUE  VIII. 


The    Muse   of   the    shepherds  Damon  and  Alphe- 

siboeus — 
Whom   contending,  the  heifer  of  her  grazing  un- 

miudful 
Gazed  at  with  wonder,  at  whose   song   were   the 

lynxes  astonished 
And  the  rivers  changed  in  their  courses  were  quiet- 
ly resting — 
I  will  sing  the  Muse  of  Damon  and  Alphesiboeus.  5 

Whether  for  me  over  the  rocks  of  great  Timavus 

thou  passest 
Now,  or  art  coasting  along  the  shore  of  the  Illyrian 

sea-side, 
Will  that  day  ever  come,  when  to  sing  thy  deeds,  I 

shall  be  permitted  ? 
Ah,  will  it  be  that  I  shall  be  permitted  to  carry 
Through  the  whole  world  thy  songs  alone  worthy  of     10 

Sophocles'  buskin? 
From   thee   is  the  beginning ;    I    will    with    thee 

discontinue : 
The  songs   begun  by  thy   commands   accept,   and 

surfer  this  ivy 
To  creep   among  the  victorious   laurels   over   thy 

temples. 
y     Scarcely  had  the  cold  shade  of  night  withdrawn 

from  the  heaven, 

47 


15     What  time  the  dew  on  the   tender  grass  is  most 
grateful  to  cattle, 
When  thus  began  Damon,  leaning  on  a   tapering 
olive. 

DAMON. 

Lucifer,  rise  and  going  before  bring  on  the  kindly- 
daylight, 

While   I   complain,    deceived  by   love   of   my   be- 
trothed Nisa, 

Of  which  she  was  unworthy;    and  the    gods,  al- 
though I  gained  nothing 
20     From  them  as  witnesses,  in  my  last  hour  I  pray  to 
while  dying. 
Begin  with  me,  my  pipe,  the  Maenalian  verses. 

Msenalus  both  a  rustling  forest  and  whispering  pine 
trees 

Always  possesses ;    he  always  listens  to  loves  of 
the  shepherds, 

And  to  Pan  who  first  never  suffered  the  reeds  to  be 
idle. 
25         Begin  with  me,  my  pipe,  the  Maenalian  verses. 

Nisa  to  Mopsus  is  given :    what  shall  we  lovers  not 
look  for  ? 

Now  shall  griffins  with  horses  be  joined,  and  the 
following  era, 

Timid  deer  shall  come  with  dogs  to  the  watering 
places. 

Mopsus,  cut  thy  new  torches  :    a  wife  to  thee  is 
conducted. 

48 


Scatter,  bridegroom,  the  nuts  :    Hesperus,  for  thee,     30 
leaves  CEta. 
Begin  with  me,  my  pipe,  the  Maenalian  verses. 

0  thou  to  a  worthy  man  joined  while  thou  despisest 

all  others, 
And  while  my  pipe  is  odious  to  thee,  and  while  too 

my  goats, 
And  my  bushy  eyebrows  and  my  flowing  beard  also, 
Nor  believest  that  any  god  cares  for  things  done  by     35 

mortals ! 
Begin  with  me,  my  pipe,  the  Maenalian  verses. 
When  thou  wast  a  little  girl,  I  saw  thee  with  thy 

mother  plucking 
Dewey  apples  in  our  gardens — I  was  thy  leader. 
The  next  year  above  eleven  had  then  received  me  ; 

1  was  not  able  from  the  ground  to  reach  the  delicate     40 

branches. 

How  I  gazed,  how  I  languished,  how  a  fatal  mad- 
ness possessed  me  ! 
Being  with  me,  my  pipe,  the  Maenalian  verses. 

Now  I  know  what  love  is :    on  the  rugged  cliffs, 
either 

Ismarus,  or  else  Rhodope,  or  the  remote  Garamantes, 

A  boy  neither  of  our  race  nor  of  our  blood,  pro-     45 
duced  him. 
Being  with  me,  my  pipe,  the  Maenalian  verses. 

With  the  blood  of  her  sons,  relentless  love  taught  a 
mother 

To  pollute  her  hands ;  thou  mother  also  wast  cruel. 

49 


Was  that  mother  more  cruel  or  that  boy  more  base- 
hearted  ? 
50     That  boy  was  base-hearted  ;    thou  mother  also  was 
cruel. 
Begin  with  me,  my  pipe,  the  Maenalian  verses. 
Now  let  the  wolf  flee  willingly  from  the  sheep  ;  let 

the  hard  oak  trees 
Bear  golden  apples  ;    let  the  alder  bloom  with  the 

narcissus  ; 
From  their  barks  let  the  tamarisks  be  distilling  rich 
amber ; 
55     And   let   owls   vie    with    swans ;    let    Tityrus    be 
changed  to  Orpheus, 
Tityrus  in  the  forests,  Arion  among  the  dolphins. 
Begin  with  me,  my  pipe,  the  Maenalian  verses. 
Lest  all  things  become  the  very  midst  of  the  sea : 

farewell  ye  forests ! 
Headlong   will   I   from   the   summit  of  the   aerial 
mountain 
60     Into  the  waves  cast  myself ;    from  me  dying,  take 
this  last  present. 
Leave  off,  my  pipe,  leave  off  now  the  Maenalian 
verses. 
These   things   said  Damon;    tell   me    what,   ye 
Pierian  Muses, 
Alphesiboeus  responded :    not  all  of  us  can  do  all 

things. 

ALPHESIBCEUS. 

Bring  forth  water,  and  bind  these  altars  with  a 
soft  fillet, 

50 


And  burn  unctuous  vervain,  also  large  grains   of     65 

incense, 
That  I  may  try  to  turn  away  the  sound  mind  of  my 

lover 
By  rites  magic  and  sacred  :    nothing  but   charms 

here  is  wanting. 
Bring   home  from  the  city,  my  charms,  bring  ye 

back  Daphnis. 
Charms  have  power  to  bring  down  the  moon  even 

from  heaven  ; 
Circe  by  her  charms   transformed   Ulysses'  com-     70 

panions ; 
The  cold  snake  in  the  meadows  is  burst  open  by 

singing. 

Bring  home  from  the  city,  my  charms,  bring  ye 

back  Daphnis. 
First  these   threefold  threads    diversified    with 

triple  colors, 
I  bind  around  about  thee,   and  three  times  round 

these  altars 
Thine  image  I  carry  :    the  god  delights  in  a  num-     75 

ber  uneven. 
Bring  home  from  the   city,  my   charms,  bring  ye 

back  Daphnis. 
Triple  colors  bind  in  three  knots,  O  Amaryllis, 
Bind  them  now,  Amaryllis,   and  say,   'I  bind  the 

chains  of  Venus  \ 
Bring  home  from  the  city,  my  charms,  bring  ye 

back  Daphnis. 

S1 


80         As   this   clay   is   hardened,   and  as  this  wax  is 

melted, 
By   one   and   the   same   fire,   so  by  my  love  may 

Daphnis  be  softened. 
Scatter  the  salt  cake  ;    and  burn  with  bitumen  the 

crackling  laurels. 
Cruel  Daphnis  burns  me,  I  burn  on  Daphnis  this 

laurel. 
Bring  home  from  the  city,  my  charms,  bring  ye 

back  Daphnis. 
85         May  such  love  take  possession  of   Daphnis  as 

when  a  heifer, 
Weary  with  searching  for  the  bullock  through  all 

the  woodlands 
And   lofty   thickets,  desperate,  falls   down    by    a 

stream  of  water, 
On  a  green  sedge,  nor  late  at  night  thinks  of  re- 
treating : 
May  such  love  take  hold  of  him,  nor  may  I  care  for 

his  healing. 
90     Bring  home  from  the  city,  my  charms,  bring  ye 

back  Daphnis. 
That  perfidious  one  left  formerly   to   me   these 

garments, 
The  dear  pledges  of  himself,  which  now  at  the  very 

threshold, 
O  earth,  to  thee  I  commit ;    these  pledges  owe  to 

me  Daphnis. 
Bring  home  from  the  city,  my  charms,  bring  ye 

back  Daphnis. 

52 


These   herbs,  and  these  poisonous  plants,  also,     95 

gathered  in  Pontus, 
Mceris  himself  gave  to  me  ;    they  grow  very  plenty 

in  Pontus. 
By  these  I  have  often  seen  Mceris  become  a  wolf 

and  putting 
Himself  in  the  woods  often  call  forth  ghosts  from 

the  depths  of  their  graves, 
And  transfer  to  another  ground  also  the  growing 

harvests. 
Bring  home  from  the  city,  my  charms,  bring  ye   1oo 

back  Daphnis. 
Bring  ashes  forth,  Amaryllis,  and  into  a  flowing 

streamlet 
Over  thy  head  cast  them,  nor  look  back :  with  these 

Daphnis 
I  will  assail ;    for  the  gods  and  for  songs  he  cares 

nothing. 
Bring  home  from  the  city,  my  charms,  bring  ye 

back  Daphnis. 
See,  the  very  ashes  with  trembling  flames  have    105 

seized  the  altars 
Of  themselves,  while  I  delay  to  remove  them  :    be 

it  a  good  omen ! 
I  know  not  what  surely  it  is,  and  at  the  gate  Hylas  is 

barking. 
Shall  I  believe   it,  or  to  themselves   are  dreams 

formed  by  lovers  ? 
Cease   now,  my  charms,  cease  ye,  from  the  city 

comes  Daphnis. 

53 


ECLOGUE  IX. 


LYCIDAS. 
Where  dost  thou  go,  Moeris  ?    is  it  the  way  that 
leads  to  the  city  ? 

MCERIS. 
We  have,  O  Lycidas,  lived  to  see  the  day  when  a 

stranger, 
(Which  we  never  feared)  as  possessor  of  my  little 

homestead, 
Should   say :    'these   things   are   mine ;     go   away 
former  tillers  !  ' 
5      Overcome  now  and  sorrowful,  seeing  that  chance 
controls  all  things, 
These  kids — nor  may  he  get  good  from  it — I  to  him 
turn  over. 

LYCIDAS. 

Certainly  indeed  I  had  heard  where  the  hills  begin 

downward 
To  slope,  and  by  an  easy  declension  to  lower  their 

ridges, 
Even  to  the  water  and  to  the  old  now  broken  topped 

beeches, 
*°     Your  Menalcas   by   his  verses  hath  preserved  all 

things. 

MCERIS. 

True  thou  hadst  heard,  and  it  was  the  report ;    but 


54 


Lycidas,  have  among  the  weapons  of  v/ar  as  much 
power, 

As  they  say,  do  Chaonian  doves  when  the  eagle  is 
coming. 

In  fact,   unless   the   ill-boding   crow  had   before- 
hand admonished 

Me  from  the  hollow  ilex  some  way  to  cut  short  new     15 
contentions, 

Neither  thy  Moeris  here  would  be  alive  nor  even 
Menalcas. 

LYCIDAS. 

Ah,  does  so  great  crime  occur  to  any  one  person  ? 
Ah,  were  thy  charms  nearly  snatched  from  us  the 

same  time,  Menalcas, 
With  thyself  ?    Who  would  sing  of  the  Nymphs  ? 

Who  would  scatter 
The  ground  with  flowering  herbage,  or  with  green     20 

shade  cover  the  fountains  ? 
Or  who  would  have  sung  the  songs  which  I  in  si- 
lence took  from  thee  lately 
When  thou  was  wont  to  resort  to  our  dear  Amaryllis? 
'Tityrus, — short  is  the  way — feed  my  goats  while  I 

am  returning  ; 
And  when  they  are  fed,  to  watering,  Tityrus,  drive 

them. 
And  while  driving,  beware  of  the  he-goat,  he  butts      25 

with  his  horn/ 

MCERIS. 

Nay  these  rather  which  to  Varus  he  sang  nor  yet 
finished : 

55 


'Only  just  let  Mantua  still  be  spared  to  us,  Varus — 
Mantua  too  near,  alas,  to  unhappy  Cremona — 
And  thy  name  shall  the  singing  swans  to  the  stars 

bear  upward*. 

LYCIDAS. 
30     So  may  thy  swarms  of  bees  flee  from  the  Cyrnean 

yew  trees ; 
So  may  thy  cows  fed  with  clover  make  larger  their 

udders. 
Begin  if  thou  hast  aught ;    the  Muses  too  made  me 

a  poet. 
I  too  have  my  verses  in  possession  ;    the  shepherds 
Also  call  me  an  inspired  bard ;    but  I  do  not  give 

them  credit. 
35     For  neither  as  yet  do  I  seem  to  sing  things  worthy 

of  Varus, 
Nor  Cinna,  but  among  the  rustling  swans  like  a 

goose  to  gabble. 

MCER1S. 
That  indeed  I  do,  andLycidas,  I  am  thinking  it  over, 
To  see  if  I  can  remember  it,  nor  is  it  a  worthless 

ballad : 
'Hither  come,  O  Galatea ;    for  what  sport  is  there 

in  the  billows  ? 
40     Here  is  blooming  Spring ;    the  earth  here  near  by 

the  rivers 
Pours  forth  various  flowers  ;    here  the  white  poplar 

hangs  over 
The  grotto,  and  vines  that  are  flexible  weave  shady 

bowers. 

56 


Hither  come  ;    let  the  raging  billows  beat  upon  the 
shores.' 

LYCIDAS. 

But  what  were  the  songs,  which  in  a  clear  night  I 

heard  thee  alone  singing  ? 
I  remember  the  measure,  if  I  could  call  to  mind  the     45 

words. 

MCERIS. 

'Daphnis,  why  dost  thou  gaze  at  the  rise  of  the  old 

constellations  ? 
IyO,     the    star    of    Dionaean    Csesar    hath   onward 

proceeded, 
The  star  under  which  the  fields  with  corn  would  be 

joyful 
And  under  which  the  grape  on  sunny  hills  would 

take  on  color. 
Graft  the  pear  trees,  Daphnis  :    thy  descendants     50 

shall  pluck  the  fruitage.' 
Age  bears  away  all  things,  even  the  soul;    Ire- 
member 
When  a  boy  often  to  have  spent  the  long  days  of 

Summer  in  singing : 
Now  these  many  songs  have  I  forgotten  ;    also  the 

voice  hath 
Now  itself  fled  from  Moeris  ;    the  wolves  first  have 

seen  Moeris. 
But  yet  often  enough  to  thee  will  Menalcas  repeat     55 

them. 

57 


LYCIDAS. 

Making  excuses,  thou  puttest  off  for  a  long  time  my 

wishes  : 
And   now   all  the   water  lies   to   thee  smooth  and 

tranquil. 
See  how  hath  died  away  all  the  breath  of  the  mur- 
muring breezes. 
From  here  half  our  journey  remains  to  us  ;   for  now 

commences 
60     Bianor's  tomb  to  make  its  appearance  :    here  where 

the  farmers 
The   dense  foliage  prune  away,  here  let  us  sing, 

Moeris ; 
Here  lay  down  thy  kids  :    however  yet  we  shall 

come  to  the  city. 
Or,  if  we  are  fearful  that  the  night  may  gather  rain 

ere  we  reach  it, 
We  may  go  on  all  the  time  singing,   (the  way  will 

make  us  less  weary) ; 
65     That  we  may  go  on  singing,  I  will  ease  thee  of  this 

burden. 

MCERIS. 

Urge  me  no  more,  boy,  and  let  us  now  do  what  is 

before  us  : 
We  shall  sing  better  songs,  when  he  himself  shall 

have  come  here. 


58 


ECLOGUE  X. 


Grant  unto  me,  O  Arethusa,  this  final  endeavor  : 
A  few  verses  must  be  sung  to  my  Gallus,  but  such  as 
Lycoris  herself  would  read :  who  would  deny  verses 

to  Gallus  ? 
So  when  thou  glidest  under  the  Sicanian  waters, 
Let  not  bitter  Doris  her  wave  with  thine  intermingle.       5 
Begin ;  let  us  sing  the  solicitous  longings  of  Gallus, 
While  the  flat-nosed  goats  the  tender  thickets  are 

browsing. 
We  cannot  sing  to  the  deaf ;    the  woodlands  echo 

back  all  things. 
What  forests  or  what  mountain  passes,  ye  Naiad 

virgins, 
Hindered  you  when  Gallus  was  pining  with  love     10 

unrequited  ? 
For  neither  any  tops  of  Parnassus,  nor  those   of 

Pindus, 
Nor  Aonian  Aganippe,  caused  you  detention. 
Even  the  laurels,   even  the    tamarisks    also    be- 
moaned him. 
Even  now  the  pine  bearing  Maenalus  wept  for  him 

lying 
Under  a  lonely  rock,  and  the  cold  stones  of  Lycaeus.     jg 
His  very  sheep  stand  around  him ;  neither  do  they 

disdain  us, 
Nor  do  thou  have  disdain  for  thy  flock,  O  divine 

poet : — 

59 


Kven  the  handsome  Adonis  pastured  sheep  by  the 

waters ; 
Also  the  shepherd  came,  and  there  came  the  slow- 
moving  swineherds ; 
20     And  wet  through  with  gathering  the  winter  mast 

came  Menalcas. 
All   question   'whence   is   this   love   of    thine  ? ' 

Here  came  Apollo. 
'Gallus,  why  ravest  thou?'  he  says ;    'Lycoris,  who 

is  thy  darling, 
Both  through  the   snows   and  through  the  rough 

camps  hath  followed  another.' 
Also  Sylvanus  too  came  with  his  head's  rural  honor, 
25     Shaking  the   flowering  fennels,   and    besides    the 

large  lilies. 
Pan  came,  the  god  of  Arcadia,  whom  we  ourselves 

saw, 
Stained  with  the  purple  berries  of  elder  and  also 

vermillion. 
' What  limit  will  there  be,'  he  says  ;    'love  does  not 

care  for  such  things. 
Cruel  love  is  not  satisfied  with  tears,  nor  grassy 

meadows 
30     With  streams  of  water,  nor  bees  with  clover,  nor 

with  leaves  the  goats.' 
But  he  sorrowful  said :    'Yet  ye  shall  be,  Arca- 
dians, singing 
These  things  in  your  mountains  :  the  Arcadians  only 
Are   skilled  in   singing.     Then  may  my  bones,  O 

how  softly,  be  resting, 

60 


If  thy  pipe  in  future  times  shall  sing  of  my  longings  ! 
And  besides  would  that  I  had  been  one  of  you,  and     35 

either 
Keeper  of  your  flock,   or  vintager  of  the   grape 

ripened  ! 
Certainly,   whether  Phillis   had   been  my  love   or 

Amyntas 
Or  whoever  it  might  have  been — what  if  Amyntas 

were  swarthy  ? 
Both  the  violets  are  dark  and  the  hyacinths  are  dark — 
He  would  have  lain  with  me  under  the  pliant  vine     40 

among  the  willows  : 
Phillis  would  gather  garlands  for  me,  Amyntas  be 

singing. 
'Here  there  are  cool  fountains,  Lycoris,  here  are 

soft  meadows, 
Here  is  a  forest ;    here  with  thee  my  very  life  I 

could  be  spending. 
Now  my  crazy  love  of  cruel  war  in  arms  detains  me 
In  the  very  midst  of  weapons,  and  foes  opposing.        4c 
Thou  far  off  from  thy  native  land,  (nor  let  me  be- 
lieve it)  ! 
Ah,  Alpine  snows  only,  thou  seest,  and  the  Rhine's 

severe  rigors. 
Alone  without  me  :    ah,  may  not  the  cold  to  thee  be 

harmful ! 

Ah,  may  not  the  sharp  ice  cut  the  soles  of  thy  feet 
that  are  tender  ! 
'I  will  go  and  on  a  Sicilian  shepherd's  reed  warble     50 

61 


The  songs,  which  in  Chalcidian  verse,  by  me  have 

been  written. 
It  is  certain  that  in  the  woods  I  had  rather  suffer, 
Among  the  dens  of  wild  beasts,   and  my  loves  on 

the  tender 
Trees   cut ;    as  those  will  grow,  so  my  loves,  ye 

shall  be  growing. 
55         'In  the  meanwhile,  in  company  with  the  Nymphs, 

will  I  rove  over 
Maenalus,  or  hunt  fierce  wild  boars:    not  any  cold 

shall  forbid  me 
From    encompassing    with    dogs    the    Parthenian 

woodlands. 
Now  to  myself  I  seem,  over  the  rocks  and  through 

the  resounding 
Groves  to  go ;    it  pleases  me  to   shoot  Cydonian 

arrows 
60     From  a  Parthian  bow :— as  if  this  were  a  cure  for 

my  frenzy, 
Or  as  if  that  god  could  learn  by  the  evils  of  men  to 

be  softened ! 
'Neither  now  again  do  the  Nymphs  of  the  forest 

nor  verses 
Even  please  me  any  more  ;  farewell  again  even  ye 

woodlands. 
Not  any  sufferings  of  ours  have  the  power  to  change 

him, 
65     Neither  if  in  the  midst  of  winter  we  should  both 

drink  of  the  Hebrus, 

62 


And  if  we  should  the  Sithonian  snows  of  watery 
winter 

Undergo,  nor  if,  when  withers  the  bark  on  the  lofty 
elm  dying 

The   sheep   of  the  Ethiopians   under  the  sign  of 
Cancer, 

We  should  tend  ;    love  conquers  all  things  ;    and  to 
love  let  us  surrender.' 
To  have  sung  these  strains  will  be   enough,  di-     70 
vine  Muses, 

For  your  poet ;    while  he  sits  and  weaves  a  little 
basket 

Of  slender  marsh  mallow  :    these  ye  will  make  most 
precious  to  Gallus — 

To  Gallus  for  whom  my  love  as  milch  hourly  in- 
creases, 

As  in  the  spring  early,  the  green  alder  shoots  up- 
ward. 

Let  us  rise,  the  evening  shade  is  wont  to  be  harm-     75 
ful  to  singers  ; 

The  shade  of  the  juniper  does 'harm  ;  to  grain  shade 
is  harmful. 

Go  home,  my  goats,  well-fed,  go  home,  forth  comes 
the  star  of  the  evening. 


63 


LIFE  OF  VIRGIL. 

Virgil,  whose  whole  name  in  the  Latin  language 
was  Publius  Virgilius  Maro,  was  born  in  the  town  of 
Andes  near  Mantua  in  the  year  70,  B.  C,  on  the 
19th  of  October.  His  father  early  perceived  his  su- 
perior natural  ability  and  took  immediate  steps  to 
have  him  educated,  providing  for  him  the  best  in- 
tellectual training  the  world  then  afforded.  At  the 
age  of  twelve  years  he  was  sent  to  Cremona  to  receive 
instruction,  and  his  father  probably  accompanied 
him  there.  He  was  very  fortunate  in  having  a  father, 
who,  though  in  humble  life  himself,  discerned  the 
intellectual  qualities  in  the  mind  of  his  son  and  used 
every  means  to  develop  them  to  the  fullest  extent. 
At  the  age  of  16  he  assumed  the  toga  virilis,  and  soon 
after  went  to  Milan  where  he  continued  his  studies 
for  two  years  and  then  went  to  Rome. 

At  the  time  of  his  arrival,  the  poems  of  Lucretius 
and  Catullus  were  being  brought  before  the  public, 
and  they  were  the  first  poems  in  the  Latin  language 
that  were  truly  artistic.  The  influence  of  this  on  the 
susceptible  mind  of  a  youth  like  Virgil  could  not  fail 
to  awaken  enthusiasm  and  to  excite  aspirations  for 
high  attainments  and  high  enjoyment  of  the  beau- 
tiful and  the  useful  in  the  realm  of  thought  expressed 
in  the  language  of  Rome  which  had  then  reached  its 
highest  point  of  culture.  We  may  infer  what  were 
his  impressions  at  this  time  by  a  few  lines  in  the  first 
Eclogue  where  he  ma,kes  Tityrus  say: 

"I  suppose  the  city  which  they  called  Rome,  Melibceus, 

Foolish  that  I  was,  like  this  one  whither  we  sheperds 

Often  to  drive  down  the  tender  young-  of  our  sheep  are 

accustomed: 
So   I   had  known  whelps  similar  to  dogs,   so   kids  to   their 

mothers. 

65 


So  I  was  wont  to  compare  great  things  with  things  that  are 

little. 
Truly  this  place  hath  as  much  lifted  its  head  among  other 

cities 
As  the  cypresses  are  wont  among  the  pliant  viburnums." 

He  studied  for  some  time  after  this  under  the  in- 
struction of  a  rhetorician,  and  then  gave  his  attention 
to  philosophy  under  Siron,  an  Epicurean,  who  seemed 
to  have  the  faculty  of  inspiring  his  pupils  with  deep 
interest  in  their  studies  and  who  also  gained  their  strong 
affection.  Virgil  here  became  deeply  interested  in  phil- 
osophical speculations  and  throughout  his  life  con- 
tinued the  consideration  of  such  subjects. 

A  few  years  after  this,  when  he  was  28  years  of  age, 
he  began  to  compose  the  Eclogues,  a  task  which  it  took 
him  four  years  to  complete.  In  these  he  pictures  vivid- 
ly the  beauties  of  rural  scenery,  the  charms  of  home 
life  in  the  country  and  the  ties  of  affection  that  so 
sweeten  and  ennoble  human  existence.  This  period 
was  probably  spent  at  the  home  of  his  father  near  the 
banks  of  the  Mincius  in  northern  Italy,  where  nature 
has  poured  forth  her  gifts  in  prolific  abundance,  where 
the  air  is  clear  and  life-giving,  where  bright  skies  invite 
the  stars  to  look  down  on  us  and  where  fields,  wood- 
lands and  flowing  streams  call  people  to  tranquility, 
peace  and  joy. 

Virgil's  next  work  was  the  Georgics,  a  poem  de- 
voted to  the  various  branches  of  agricultural  pursuits 
and  embracing  four  books.  On  this  he  spent  seven 
years,  producing  the  most  perfect  of  all  his  poems  as 
a  work  of  art,  and  the  most  entirely  in  harmony  with 
life  in  Italy. 

He  had  very  much  at  heart  the  composition  of  an 
Epic  poem  which  should  bring  forcibly  before  the 
minds  of  the  people  the  origin  of  their  country  and  the 
characteristics  of  their  race,  both  with  reference  to  the 

66 


past  and  to  what  might  be  in  the  future.  This  he  ac- 
complished in  writing  the  Aeneid,  which  required 
eleven  years.  In  it  he  gives  us  history,  human  life, 
philosophy  and  religion. 

His  characters  are  noble  and  refined.  They  manifest 
in  what  they  say  to  each  other,  and  in  what  they  do,  an 
honorable,  dignified,  benevolent  spirit.  All  this  is  so 
beautifully  and  attractively  presented  that  even  young 
students  are  deeply  impressed  in  reading  it  and  are 
thereby  led  to  cherish  high  ideals  in  life. 

When  he  was  51  years  of  age,  he  went  to  Athens 
with  a  view  of  giving  more  time  to  study  amidst  he 
classic  scenes  of  Greece, but  soon  after  his  arrival  there, 
he  met  Augustus,  who  was  on  his  return  from  his  vic- 
tories in  the  East,  and  through  his  influence  Virgil  was 
induced  to  return  to  Italy.  During  the  voyage  he 
became  seriously  ill,  and  died,  after  lingering  a  few 
days,  in  the  52d  year  of  his  age,  at  Brundisium,  Sep- 
tember 22,  B.  C.   19. 

Virgil  was  tall  and  swarthy.  He  never  enjoyed 
very  firm  health.  He  was  refined  in  his  nature,  and 
also  most  loveable  in  character  and  personality. 

His  Eclogues  at  once  gave  him  the  first  place  among 
Roman  poets.  He  has  always  been  considered  the 
greatest  poet  in  the  Latin  language;  and  today  he  is 
regarded  as  one  of  the  most  illustrious  poets  of  the 
world,  in  some  respects  greater  even  than  Homer. 

He  left  his  works  to  the  world,  in  the  language  of  a 
distinguished  poet  who  was  well  qualified  to  judge  of 
their  merit,  in  "The  noblest  metre  ever  moulded  by 
the  lips  of  man."  This  is  the  metre  of  Homer,  and  it 
is  used  by  Longfellow  in  his  Evangeline  and  in  some 
of  his  other  poems. 


e7 


ECLOGUE  I. 

In  this  poem  Virgil  expresses  his  gratitude  to  the  emperor 
Augustus  for  restoring  to  him  his  lands  which  had  been  taken 
from  him  to  give  the  soldiers  for  services  rendered  in  the  bat- 
tle of  Philippi,  in  which  the  exaltation  of  Augustus  to  the 
throne  was  made  possible.  By  Tityrus  is  represented  Virgil, 
and  by  Meliboeus  the  less  fortunate  residents  of  the  vicinity, 
who  were  deprived  of  their  estates  permanently.  The  lands 
of  Mantua,  Virgil's  home,  and  Cremona  near  by  were  thus 
taken  from  their  owners  and  given  to  the  soldiers.  Virgil  on 
account  of  his  literary  attainments  was  accordingly  favored. 

NOTES. 

t  Y  1  •  Tityrus :  this  is  a  general  name  taken  from  Theocritus  and 
signifies  a  goat.     This,  like  most  of  the  other  proper  names 
here  used,  is  from  the  Greek. 
5.  Amaryllis,  a  favorite  Greek  name  signifying  "bright-eyes". 

6.  Meliboeus,  a  Greek  name  meaning  cowherd. 

27.  Rome,  situated  on  the  river  Tiber,  founded  by  Romulus, 
B.  C.  753. 

31.  Galatea  is  thought  to  stand  allegorically  for  Mantua, 
near  which  Virgil  was  born;  and  Amaryllis  for  Rome. 

63.  Parthian,  an  adjective  from  Parthia,  a  country  in  Asia. 
The  Arar,  a  river  in  Gaul. 

64.  Tigris,  a  river  in  Asia. 

66.  Scythia,  a  country  in  the  northern  part  of  Asia.     Oaxee,  a 

river  in  Crete. 

83.  The  smoking  is  from  the  fires  kindled  to  prepare  supper. 

ECLOGUE  II. 

The  subject  of  this  poem  is  the  fondness  of  the  shepherd 
Corydon  for  the  beautiful  boy  Alexis  whom  Virgil  had  seen  at 
the  house  of  Pollio  and  whose  beauty  he  celebrates  in  this  de- 
lightful song.  So  pleased  was  Pollio  with  this  poem  that  he 
gave  the  boy,  who  was  a  slave,  to  Virgil ;  and  being  educated 
with  much  care,  the  slave  became  a  distinguished  grammarian, 
under  his  real  name  of  Alexander.  This  is  not  certain,  though 
probabla. 

68 


NOTES. 

1.  The  shepherd  Cory  don  who  is  fond  of  the  boy  Alexis. 
10.     Thestylis,  the  name  of  a  servant. 

14.  Amaryllis  and  Menalcas,  former  objects  of  Corydon's 
affection. 

21.  Sicilian.  Many  wealthy  Romans  had  estates  in  Sicily, 
and  there  were  excellent  pastures  there.  $j 

24.  Amphion  was  the  mythic  founder  of  Thebes  whose 
walls  rose  at  the  music  of  his  lyre.  Aracinthus  is  the  mountain 
ridge  that  devides  Boeotia  from  Attica.  Actaean,  an  adjective 
from  Attica.     Dircaean  from   Dirce,  a  fountain  near  Thebes. 

26.  Daphnis.  A  beautiful  shepherd,  the  mythic  paragon 
of    pastoral    poetry. 

31.     Pan,  the  god  of  shepherds  and  hunters.     He  is  said 
to  have  invented  the  pipe  with  seven  reeds. 
46.     Nais,  a  nymph  of  the  water. 
57.     Iollas,  the  master  of  Alexis. 

61.  Paris,  the  son  of  Priam,  king  of  ./Troy.  Pallas,  the 
goddess   of   wisdom  and  skill. 

ECLOGUE  III. 

In  this  poem  we  have  a  trial  of  skill  between  two  poets, 
Menalcas  and  Damcetas.  After  a  short  discussion  with  each 
other  in  which  the  criticism  is  quite  sharp,  they  agree  to  hold 
a  contest  in  alternate  couplets.  These  are  entirely  discon- 
nected, and  some  of  them  are  merely  sarcastic  jokes  which  they 
make  upon  each  other,  the  poet,  under  the  character  of 
Damcetas,  thus  exprjising  ridicule  for  some  who  had  at- 
tempted to  rival  him.  Though  in  imitation  of  Theocritus, 
the  poem    is  purely  Roman  in  thought  and  expression. 

Notes. 

2.  Aegon,  the  name  of  a  shepherd. 
4.     Neara,  a  rustic  maid. 

17.  Damon,  a  goatherd. 

18.  Lycisca,  a  mongrel  dog,  half  dog  and  half  wolf. 

27.  Alcimedon,  a  sculptor. 

40.     Conon,  an  astronomer  of  Alexandria. 
50.     Palaemon,    a    shepherd. 

62.  Phoebus,  another  name  of  Apollo. 

67.  Delia,  perhaps  Diana,  who  is  sometimes  called  Delia 
from  .Delos  the  place  of  her  birth,  or  perhaps  a  servant  of 
Menalcas. 

84.     Pollio,  a  noble  Roman,  a  friend  of  Virgil. 

e9 


r  90.  Bavius,and  Maevius,  obscure  and  envius  poets  of  the 
time    of   Virgil. 

I  105.  By  some  this  space  is  supposed  to  be  at  the  bottom 
of   a  well. 

£  106.  The  flower  here  referred  to  is  supposed  to  be  the  hya- 
cinth, which  has  veins  in  it  similar  to  the  letters, AI,  and 
which  are  the  Greek  for  alas!  and  which  might  also  be  an 
abreviation  of  Ajax. 

ECLOGUE  IV. 

We  have  in  this  Eclogue  a  prophecy  of  a  better  time  about 
to  come,  a  golden  age,  when  peace  would  prevail  and  when 
righteousness  would  be  exalted  among  men.  The  hope  of 
this  existed  in  Italy,  and  other  nations  were  expecting  better 
days  in  the  immediate  future.  The  poem  is  dedicated  to 
Pollio,  Virgil's  patron,  and  is  supposed  to  refer  to  his  son 
born  about  this  time.  But  the  latter  died  when  nine  days 
old.  Others  think  it  refers  to  a  son  of  Octavia,  the  sister  of 
Augustus,  who  was  born  at  nearly  the  same  time;  but  this 
boy  lived  to  be  only  twenty  years  of  age.  Still  others  think 
it  is  a  prophecy  of  the  coming  of  the  Savior  whose  birth  is 
predicted  in  Scripture. 

Notes. 

1.  Sicilian  Muses,  muses  of  pastoral  song;  called  thus 
because  Theocritus,the  father  of  pastoral  poetry,was  a  Sicilian. 

4.  Cumaean,  from  the  island  of  Cumae,  where  the  earliest 
Sibyl    had    her    residence. 

5.  The  four  ages  of  gold,  silver,  brass  and  iron.  The 
iron  age  is  supposed  to  be  coming  to  a  close,  and  the  golden 
age  to  be  about  to  begin  anew. 

6.  The  Virgin,  the  goddess  Astraea,  who  presided  over 
justice,  said  to  be  the  last  of  the  deities  that  left  the  earth 
on  account  of  the  numerous  crimes  committed  here;  now 
about  to  return  in  a  better  age.  The  Saturnian  age  is  associated 
with  Saturnus,  the  Italian  god  of  husbandry. 

8.  Lucina,  here  applied  to  Diana,  as  giving  light.  It 
was  supposed  that  the  god  Apollo  would  reign  during  this  age. 

34.  Tiphys,  the  pilot  of  the  Argo,  the  ship  in  which 
Jason  sailed  to  Colchis  for  the  golden  fleece. 

55.  Orpheus  and  Linus,  were  mythic  bards  of  the  heroic 
age.  Orpheus  was  said  to  be  the  son  of  the  muse  Calliopea, 
and  Linus  the  son  of  Apollo. 

59.  Pan,  whose  country  was  Arcadia,  was  fond  of  music. 
He  was  the  god  of  shepherds.  Even  Pan's  home  would 
acknowledge  that  he  was  vanquished  in  this  contest. 

70 


ECLOGUE  V. 

This  pastoral  was  written  to  commemorate  the  death  of 
some  person  of  distinction  who  is  here  called  Daphnis.  There 
have  been  various  opinions  in  regard  to  the  person  referred  to. 
Many  have  supposed  that  the  poet  had  in  view  Julius  Cassar 
who  met  death  at  the  hands  of  Brutus,  in  the  senate  house, 
and  was  afterwards  enrolled  among  the  Roman  deities.  In 
the  early  part  of  the  poem,  the  shepherd  Mopsus  laments  the 
death  of  Daphnis;  in  the  latter  part  of  it,  Menalcas,  rep- 
resenting Virgil,  describes  the  welcome  of  Daphnis  among  the 
gods  and  the  rites  observed  in  honor  of  him  as  a  divinity. 
Notes. 

20.  Daphnis,  the  ideal  shepherd,  represented  by  Theocri- 
tus as  drowned  and  his  death  bewailed  by  the  nymphs. 

35.  Pales,  a  goddess  of  the  flock.  Apollo  was  keeper  of 
the  flocks  of  Admetus,  and  was  a  patron  of  shepherds. 

59.     Dryads,  nymphs  of  the  grove. 

79.  Bacchus,  the  god  of  wine.  Ceres,  the  goddess  of 
husbandry. 

ECLOGUE  VI. 

Varus  with  Cornelius  Gallus  had  been  appointed  to  carry 
into  effect  the  distribution  of  the  lands  in  the  north  of  Italy. 
By  request  of  Varus  that  Virgil  would  write  an  epic  poem, 
Virgil  sent  him  these  verses.  He  would  gladly,  he  says, 
have  sung  the  heroic  deeds  of  Varus ;  but  Apollo  checked  the 
flight  of  his  muse :  and  he  brings  before  us  Silenus,  a  fabulous 
deity  who  sings  the  beginning  of  things,  in  accordance  with 
the  Epicurean  philosophy,  which  was  a  popular  theory  at 
that  time,  and  which  Varus  as  well  as  the  poets  enjoyed. 
Notes. 

1.  Thalia,  one  af  the  Muses,  supposed  to  preside  over 
comedy  and  pastoral  poetry.  Syracusan,  from  Syracuse,  the 
birthplace  of  Theocritus,  the  first  eminent  pastoral  poet. 

3.     Cynthius,  a  name  of  Apollo,  from  a  mountain  in  Delos. 
11.     Phoebus,    a    name    of    Apollo. 

13.  Chromis  and  Mnasyllus,  two  young  satyrs. 

14.  Silenus,    an  attendant   of   Bacchus. 

20.  Aegle,  a  name  of  a  nymph. 

21.  Naiads,  water  nymphs. 

27.     Fauns,   gods  of  the  woods. 

29.  Parnassian,  from  Parnassus,  a  mountain  in  Phocis  a 
district  m  Greece,  sacred  to  the  Muses  and  made  famous  by 
the  poets.     Here  was  a  temple  of  Apollo. 

7i 


30.  Rhodope  and  Ismarus,  two  ranges  of  mountains  in 
Thrace,  the  home  of  Orpheus,  a  mythical  poet. 

41.  The  stones  thrown  behind  them  by  Deucalion  and 
Pyrrha  after  the  flood,  from  which  sprang  a  new  race  of  men. 
Saturnian  kingdoms,   the  golden  age. 

42.  The  poets  say  Prometheus  stole  fire  from  heaven. 

44.  Hylas,  a  youth  who  went  with  Hercules  on  the 
expedition  of  the  Argonauts,  and  was  carried  away  by  the 
nymphs,  who  admired  his  beauty. 

45.  Pasiphae,  daughter  of  "Helios,  the  Greek  sun-god, 
and  wife  of  Minos ;  she  had  a  mad  passion  for  a  bull. 

48.  The  daughters  of  Proeteus,  who  were  rendered  mad  by 
Juno  because  they  despised  her  worship,  and  who  imagined 
they  were  changed  into  heifers. 

56.     Dictsean,  from  Dicte,  a  mountain  in  Crete. 

60.  Gortynian,  from  Gortyna,  a  city  of  Crete  famous  for 
its  pastures. 

61.  The  daughters  of  Hesperus  are  said  to  have  had 
gardens  in  which  were  trees  that  bore  golden  apples. 

62.  The  sisters  of  Phaethon  who  were  said  to  have  been 
transformed  into  poplar  trees. 

64.  Gallus,  a  distinguished  Roman  poet  of  the  time  of 
Virgil. 

65.  Permessus,  a  river  of  Boeotia  rising  at  the  foot  of  Mount 
Helicon.  Aonian  mountains,  Mount  Helicon  and  MountCy  th- 
era  in  Boeotia. 

67.  Linus,  a  mythical  poet,  son  of  Apollo  and  Terpsichore, 
an  excellent  musician  and  teacher  of  Orpheus  and  Hercules. 

70.  The  Ascrasan  old  man,  JHesiod,  born  in  Ascra  near 
Mt.  Helicon,  father  of  the  songs  of  husbandry,  and  poet  of 
the  old  cosmogony. 

72.  Grynaean,  from  Grynaeum,  a  city  of  Aeolis,  where 
Appollo  had  a  temple. 

74.  Scylla,  daughter  of  Nisus.  The  lower  part  of  her 
body  was  transformed  into  hideous  monsters :  she  was  finally 
changed  into  the  rock  which  bears  her  name  between  Italy 
and  Sicily,  opposite  Charybdis. 

77.  Dulichan,  from  Dulichium,  an  island  in  the  Ionian 
sea,  near  Ithaca,  the  home  of  Ulysses. 

78.  Tereus,    a   king   of   Thrace. 

79.  Philomela  was  a  sister  of  Procne.  The  latter  was 
the  wife  of  Tereus.  When  the  sisters  took  revenge  upon  him 
for  the  wrong  that  he  had  done, he  pursued  them  with  a  weapon ; 
and  when  he  had  overtaken  them,  the  sisters  prayed  to  the 

72 


fods  that   they  might  be  changed   into  birds.     Philomel 
ecame  a  nightingale,  Procne  a  swallow,  Tereus  a  hoopoo,  and 
Itys,  the  son  of  Tereus  and  Procne,  became  a  pheasant. 
ECLOGUE  VH. 
This  is  strictly  a  bucholic  poem.     It  contains  a  poetical 
contest  between  the  shepherds  Corydon   and   Thirsis   with 
Daphnis  for  umpire.     Some  are  of  the  opinion  that  by  Cory- 
don and  Thirsis  we  are  to  suppose  the  poet  represents  Gallus 
and  Pollio.     Melibceus  is  thought  to  be  Virgil  and  Daphnis 
a  mutual  friend  of  theirs.     They  carefully  listen  to  the  songs 
and  give  the  palm  to  Corydon.     The  scene  is  laid  on  the  banks 
of  the  river  Mincius  in  northern  Italy. 

Notes. 
2,     Corydon,  is  from  a  Greek  word  signifying  a  lark.   Thyr- 
sis  is  also  from  a  Greek  word  signifying  a  spear  bound  with  a 
vine  in  honor  of  Bacchus. 

8.     Daphnis  is  from  a  Greek  word  signifying  a  laurel. 
12.     Mincius,    a    small    river. 
14.     Alcippe  and  Phyllis,  the  names  of  two  servants. 

21.  Libethrian,  from  Libethra,  a  fountain  in  Bceotia. 

22.  Codrus,    a   shepherd   poet. 

29.  Delia,  a  name  of  Diana  from  Delos,  the  place  of  her 
birth.     Mi  con,   a  hunter. 

33.  Priapus,  was  a  god  of  gardens,  half  god  and  half 
scarecrow. 

37.  Nereus,  the  god  of  the  sea,  Neptune;  Galatea,  his 
daughter ;  Hy  bla,  a  mountain  in  Sicily  famous  for  its  honey. 

41.  Sardinian,  from  the  island  of  Sardinia  where  an  herb 
grew  having  prickly  leaves  and  a  very  bitter  taste,  which  is 
said  to  produce  a  convulsive  laughter  with  grinning.  Hence 
the  expression  a  "Sardonic  grin"  denoting  a  forced  laughter. 

57.     Liber,  a  name  of  Bacchus. 

61.  Alcldes,  another  name  for  Hercules  from  Alcaeus  his 
grandfather. 

ECLOGUE  Vin. 
This  poem  begins  by  introducing  to  us  two  shepherds, 
Damon  and  Alphesiboeus,  whose  songs  filled  animals  with 
admiration  and  astonishment,  and  caused  the  rivers  to 
change  their  courses  and  stand  still.  It  is  in  two  parts.  In 
the  first,  Damon  is  the  speaker;  in  the  second,  Alphesiboeus. 
Damon  complains  of  the  loss  of  his  love,  Nisa,  who  has  mar- 
ried another.  In  the  second  part  Alphesiboeus  tells  of  the 
charms  of  Amaryllis,  an  enchantress,  whom  a  maiden  made 
use  of  to  bring  back  her  loved  one,  Daphnis,  who  had  neglected 

73 


and  gone  from  her.  It  is  inscribed  in  most  expressive  language 
to  an  unnamed  person,  whom  some  suppose  to  be  Pollio, 
others  Julius  Caesar,  though  Pollio  is  undoubtedly  the  one 
referred  to.     The  poem  is  exceedingly  beautiful. 

Notes. 

6.  Timavu8.     This  was  a  stream  flowing  into  the  Adria- 
tic, or  what  is  now  the  Gulf  of  Venice,  near  Trieste. 

7.  Ulyrian,  from  Illyricum,  a  country  bordering  on  the 
Adriatic  sea. 

10.  Sopho clean,  from  Sophocles,  an  Athenian  who  was  a 
famous  author  of  tragic  poetry.  The  buskin  was  used  by 
tragedians. 

17.  Lucifer,  the  morning  star,  identical  with  Venus. 

18.  Nisa,  a  rustic  maiden. 

21.  Maenalian,   Arcadian. 

22.  Maenalus,  a  mountain  in  Arcadia. 

24.     Pan,  the  god  of  shepherds  and  flocks. 

27.  Griffins.  These  were  fabulous  animals  having  the 
body  of  a  lion  and  the  wings  and  back  of  an  eagle. 

30.  Hesperus,  the  evening  star.  Oeta,  a  mountain  of  great 
height  in  Thessaly. 

44,  Ismarus  and  Rhodope  are  very  wild  and  rocky  moun- 
tains in  Thrace.  The  Garamantes  are  inhabitants  of  tha 
center  of  Africa.  All  these  are  used  as  symbols  of  barbarism. 

55.  Orpheus,  a  mythical  poet  before  the  time  of  Homer. 

56.  Arion,  a  famous  lyric  poet  of  Lesbos,  cast  into  the  sea 
by  sailors,  and  rescued  by  a  dolphin.  Dolphins  were  supposed 
to  be  fond  of  music. 

70.  Circe,  a  sorceress,  daughter  of  Helios,  the  sun.  Ulys- 
ses  ,the  hero  of  Homer's   "Odyssey". 

95.  Pontus,  a  country  in  Asia  Minor  bordering  on  the  Eux- 
ine    sea.     It    abounded    in    poisonous    herbs. 

96.  Moeris,    a    magician. 

101.  Ashes  are  supposed  to  have  been  used  as  a  symbol  of 
what  it  was  desired  to  banish  from  memory.  They  were 
thrown  over  the  head  backward  into  running  water  so  as  to 
be  seen  no  more;  or  perhaps  with  the  thought  that  the  gods 
who  were  believed  not  to  wish  to  be  seen  by  men,  except  upon 
unusual  occasions,  would  come  up  behind  and  receive  them, 
and  thus  it  was  hoped  that  Daphnis  would  be  entirely  driven 
from  remembrance  if  he  did  not  return. 

107.  Hylas,  the  name  of  a  dog  from  a  Greek  word  signify- 
ing  to   bark. 

74 


ECLOGUE  IX. 

In  these  lines  we  have  a  dialogue  between  Moeris,  Virgil's 
steward,  and  Lycidas,  a  neighboring  shepherd.  They  meet  on 
the  way.  The  lands  in  the  vicinity  of  Mantua  had  been  given 
by  Augustus  to  the  soldiers  who  had  served  him ;  and  Virgil 
had  been  cruelly  treated  by  the  rough  soldier  to  whom  his 
estate  had  been  assigned,  and  only  escaped  with  his  life  by 
swimming  the  river  Mincius.  Menalcas  in  this  poem  represents 
Virgil.  Lycidas,  in  beautiful  poetic  description,  tells  Moeris 
of  his  own  misfortune  in  losing  his  property,  and  Moeris,  in 
lines  as  charming,  relates  the  good  fortune  of  his  master  in 
having  his  lands  restored  to  him  through  the  kindness  of  the 
Emperor.  Some  translations  of  poetical  quotations,  prob- 
ably from  Theocritus,  are  interspersed,  and  the  whole  of  this 
discussion  is  poetical  and  beautiful  as  only  a  poet  like  the 
author  could  make  it. 

Notes. 

13.  C ha oman,  from  Chaonia,  a  part  of  Epirus  in  which 
was  the  city  of  Dodona ;  here  was  a  shrine  of  Jupiter.  Some 
prophetic  doves  were  said  to  reside  in  oak  trees  there. 

28.  Cremona,  a  city  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Po,  near 
Mantua.  Its  people  had  suffered  in  the  same  way  as  Mantua 
in  having  their  lands  taken  from  them  and  given  to  the  soldiers. 

30.  Cyrnean,  from  Cyrnus,  an  island  in  the  Mediterranean 
sea  the  modern  name  of  which  is  Corsica.  The  yew  trees, 
in  which  this  island  abounded,  caused  the  honey  to  have  a 
bitter  taste. 

35.  Varus,  a  tragic  and  Epic  poet. 

36.  Cinna,  a  tragic  poet. 
39.     Galatea,    a   nymph. 

47.  Dionaean,  from  Dione,  a  nymph  of  the  sea,  who  was 
the  mother  of  Venus;  from  the  latter's  grandson,  lulus,  the 
Julian   family   claimed     to   be   descended. 

54.  The  Wolves  first.  There  was  an  old  superstition  that 
if  a  person  met  a  wolf  and  did  not  catch  his  eye  first,  it  would 
strike  him  dumb. 

60.  Bianor,  the  mythical  founder  of  Mantua,  fabled  to 
have  been  the  son  of  the  river-god  Tiber  and  Manto,  daughter 
of  the  seer  Teiresias,  and  to  have  named  the  city  Mantua  for 
his  mother. 

67.  He  himself  refers  to  Menalcas  who  represents  Virgil 
in  this  poem. 

75 


ECLOGUE  X. 

This  poem  gives  an  account  of  the  disturbed  condition 
of  Gallus  who  was  an  able  writer  of  poetry  and  a  friend  of 
Virgil,  and  also  a  distinguished  general.  When  he  was  sent 
away  on  a  military  expedition,  Lycoris,  upon  whom  he  had 
bestowed  his  affections,  was  attracted  to  a  rough  soldier  and 
went  with  him  to  Gaul.  Gallus  therefore  requested  a  poem 
from  Virgil  which  might  have  the  effect  of  bringing  her  back 
to  him,  and  we  have  these  lines  which  are  in  imitation  of  the 
first  Idyl  of  Theocritus. 

Notes. 

1.  Arethusa,  a  nymph  of  great  beauty,  the  daughter  of 
Nereus  and  Doris.  She  was  the  goddess  of  the  fountain  bear- 
ing her  name  which  rises  in  the  Island  of  Ortygia  near  Syra- 
cuse. It  has  its  source  in  the  Peloponnesus,  and  it  is  said, 
after  flowing  under  the  sea,  to  have  burst  forth  as  a  fountain 
in  the  little  island  of  Ortygia,  in  the  bay  of  Syracuse,  on  which 
was  situated  a  part  of  the  city.  Alpheus,  a  river-god,  was  in 
love  with  the  nymph  Arethusa  who,  flying  from  him,  was 
changed  into  a  fountain. 

5.     Doris,  a  nymph  of  the  sea,  here  put  for  the  sea. 

11.  Parnassus  and  Pindus,  mountains  in  Thessaly. 

12.  Aganippe,  a  fountain  in  Mount  Helicon. 

14,  15.     Manama  and  Lycseus,  mountains  of  Arcadia. 

24.     Sylvanus,     a    god    of    the    woods. 

51.  Chalcidian,  from  Chalcis,  a  city  of  Eubcea,  the  birth- 
place of  Euphorion  an  elegiac  poet. 

57.  Parthenian,  from  Parthenius,  a  mountain  of  Arcadia 
where  virgins  used  to  hunt,  which  derives  its  name  from 
Parthenos,  a  Greek  word  signifying  a  virgin. 

59.  Cydonian,  irom  Cydonia,  a  city  of  Crete,  famous  for 
its  arrows. 

60.  The  Parthians  were  remarkable  for  their  skill  in  hand- 
ling   the    dow. 

62.     Hamadryads,  nymphs  of  the  forest. 

65.  Hebrus,  the  largest  river  in  Thrace. 

66.  Sithonian,  from  Sithonia,  a  part  of  Thrace  where  the 
winters    were    severe. 


76 


NOV 


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